It’s less than a fortnight now until the Giro della Donna and we can’t wait. Not just because the riding is going to be great — the 55km Gravel Giro on the Saturday, and the 125km main event on the Sunday — but because of the special guest we’ve got coming along.
You would have heard by now that multiple-time winner of all three Grand Tours, Alberto Contador, is our ambassador for the 2018 Giro della Donna. We couldn’t be more thrilled. We’ve long been fans of Contador’s aggressive, instinctive racing — a real tonic at a time when racing was becoming increasingly clinical thanks to a reliance on power meters.
Organising Contador’s visit got us reminiscing. It had us thinking about all those times Contador went on the attack, dancing out of the saddle in his trademark style, often a long way from the finish of the stage. He pulled off some amazing long-range raids in his time, riding with a sense of panache that few others in the sport have been capable of.
With that in mind, scroll on down for a visual history of some of Contador’s most memorable moments. We published something similar at the time of his retirement last year but with GdD just around the corner, we figured it was time for another ‘Bertie’-themed stroll down memory lane!
Oh, and if you fancy riding with Contador at the Giro della Donna, we still have some tickets available. You can sign up here. And if you’d like to join our VIP Pasta Dinner, where Contador will be in conversation with Olympic gold medallist Scott McGrory, we have limited spots available for that too. Get your ticket here before they run out!
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- Contador rode the 2004 and 2005 seasons with Liberty Seguros. He won stage 4 of the Tour of Romandie in 2005 while riding for the Spanish outfit.
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- In 2006 Contador stayed on with Liberty Seguros as it changed its name to Astana-Würth. He won a couple races for the year, including stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse, but spent much of the year on the sidelines. He had meant to start the Tour de France but was implicated in Operation Puerto and he and his team were not able to start the Tour. He wouldn’t race again until February 2007.
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- Contador joined Discovery Channel in 2007 and started the year in impressive form, winning Paris-Nice and the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.
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- Contador won stage 14 of the 2007 Tour, ahead of race leader Michael Rasmussen. When Rasmussen was turfed off the race on stage 17 for lying to his team about his pre-race whereabouts, Contador assumed the race lead.
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- He went on to win the Tour ahead of Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer, although Leipheimer was later stripped of that result leaving Carlos Sastre in third overall.
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- Contador moved to Astana in 2008. He got a late call-up to the Giro that year but still managed to win it. He moved into pink on stage 15 then sealed the win in the final stage time trial into Milan.
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- One Giro d’Italia win to go with his Tour de France victory from the year before.
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- Contador had been hoping to defend his Tour de France victory in 2008 but Tour owners ASO stopped Astana from taking part, given the team’s past doping offences. Contador instead turned his focus to the Vuelta, where we won on the Alto de l’Angliru to move into the lead on stage 12.
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- Contador led all the way to the finish, winning the Vuelta by just under a minute to his teammate Levi Leipheimer. In just over a year Contador had won all three Grand Tours for the first time.
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- Lance Armstrong made a comeback in 2009 and joined Contador’s Astana team. This created significant leadership tensions within the team for the Tour de France.
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- Contador gives his famous pistol salute after a solo victory on stage 15 of the Tour put him into yellow.
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- Contador would also win the stage 18 time trial over Fabian Cancellera, showing his immense time trialling ability.
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- Tensions simmered between Contador and Armstrong throughout the Tour …
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- … but both would end up on the podium, Contador victorious with Armstrong third. Andy Schleck was second.
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- On stage 15 of the 2010 Tour, Andy Schleck was in the leader’s jersey when his chain came off. Contador controversially attacked the race leader, and moved into yellow. He would defend his lead all the way to Paris.
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- While Contador was crowned the winner of the 2010 Tour, he’d later have the title stripped off him after testing positive for clenbuterol during the race.
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- Contador won the 2011 Giro d’Italia in his first season with Saxo Bank-Sungard, but that title was also taken off him in response to the clenbuterol positive.
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- In February 2012, Contador was handed a six-month suspension for his clenbuterol positive. He returned to action at the 2012 Eneco Tour in order to help his race preparation for the upcoming Vuelta.
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- Contador was relentless throughout the 2012 Vuelta, frequently attacking to try and take the lead from Joaquim Rodriguez. “Purito” held firm until stage 17 when Contador launched one of his most famous raids, attacking from 60km out, then going solo with 13km to go to take the stage win. That put him into the red leader’s jersey.
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- Contador would hold red through to Madrid, winning his second Vuelta a España after just one competitive race in the lead-up.
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- Contador’s major goal for the 2013 season was the Tour de France. It did not get off to an ideal start with him crashing hard in the first stage. In fact, Contador’s whole season was rather forgettable by his lofty standards. He took just one win for the year, a stage of the Tour de San Luis in January.
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- Contador finished fourth at the 2013 Tour after sitting second for most of the race.
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- Along with his seven Grand Tour victories, Contador’s palmares features a number of week-long stage race victories. In 2014, riding for Tinkoff-Saxo, he won Tirreno-Adriatico (pictured here) and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.
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- After looking strong at the start of the 2014 Tour, Contador crashed heavily on Stage 10.
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- He would ride another 20km on what turned out to be a fractured tibia before withdrawing from the Tour.
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- Contador returned for the start of the Vuelta and lined up as one of the favourites, despite the injury he suffered at the Tour.
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- Contador moved into the overall lead in the stage 10 time trial, and wore red for the remainder of the race.
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- En route to his third Vuelta victory, Contador won solo on the uphill finish to stage 16 (pictured here), and likewise on stage 20. Both times he’d finish ahead of Chris Froome.
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- By the end of the 2014 Vuelta, Contador had six Grand Tour victories to his name, three of them at his home Grand Tour.
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- Despite a tense relationship with eccentric team owner Oleg Tinkov, Contador continued with Tinkoff-Saxo in 2015. Contador’s goal for the season was to win both the Giro and the Tour.
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- Contador moved into the pink leader’s jersey by finishing fourth on stage 5 of the Giro. He briefly dropped to second overall on stage 13, but regained the maglia rosa the next day.
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- Contador remained in pink all the way to Milan where he won the Giro by nearly two minutes ahead of Fabio Aru. It would be his final Grand Tour victory.
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- A crash on stage 17 of the 2015 Tour scuppered any slim chances of Contador completing his Giro-Tour double. He finished the Tour in fifth overall, nearly 10 minutes down on winner Chris Froome.
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- Peter Sagan is just one of the many talented teammates Contador has ridden with. The pair rode together in 2015 and 2016.
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- Going into the final stage of the 2016 Paris-Nice, Contador was in second place, just 15 seconds down. He embarked on one of his trademark long-range attacks, 50km from the finish. It took a massive effort from Team Sky and leader Geraint Thomas to reel Contador in, after the Spaniard got a minute clear. Thomas held on to win the race, while Contador finished second.
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- A crash on the first stage of the 2016 Tour de France saw Contador’s general classification hopes disappear straight away.
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- He would eventually succumb to his injuries and abandon on stage 9.
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- Contador had initially planned to retire at the end of 2016 but he decided to go around for another year, signing with Trek-Segafredo for 2017.
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- On the final stage of the 2017 Paris-Nice, Contador was again in sight of the overall victory. Again he attacked from 50km out, trying to take the win. He would end up in second place overall. In fact, Contador would finish second in four week-long stage races in the first half of 2017.
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- In his final Tour de France, Contador was never really in the hunt for the GC. But on stage 13, the Spaniard attacked from 75km out (seen here with Mikel Landa) and went on to finish third on the stage. Fittingly, he was awarded the Most Aggressive Rider for the day.
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- The 2017 Vuelta was Contador’s final race as a professional. He was relentless throughout, attacking seemingly every day of the race, particularly in the mountains.
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- Stage 20 presented Contador with his last chance of a stage win. It finished on the brutal Alto de l’Angliru, where he’d won back in 2008 to set up his first Vuelta win.
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- Contador battled through the final 13km alone …
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- … and went on to win on the final summit finish of his career.
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- Contador would finish his final Vuelta in fifth overall and enjoyed a rapturous send-off from his many fans.