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Evulation of the Giro: We met the team´s objective

The Tinkoff-Saxo team met their expectations in this year´s Giro as Albert Contador captured the overall victory in Milano. Roman finished in 28th position, which wasn’t the kind of result that he had imagined but his performance was affected by health problems in the final week of racing.

What is your overall assessment of this Giro?

From the team´s point of view, everything turned out well for us because Alberto clinched the overall victory, which was our objective. It is a great achievement and for the team it is a well-deserved victory because we were trying to support him as much as possible. There were moments when he found himself isolated but we have to look at the fact that some other team´s leaders had to rely on themselves, too. Except for Astana that outnumbered the rest in this year´s Giro and won a couple of stages. In the end, they finished second and third but it was us who delivered the pink jersey to Milano.

What about your performance?

I was feeling quite all right during the first ten stages. Then the long time trial came and I started to have problems with my thigh muscles. Besides, after the stage atop Aprica I got sick. I caught stomach flu and it was really hard for me. I was considering to call it quits during the stage with the finish in Cervinie but I did not want to abandon when we had a rider in the leader´s jersey. I told myself that we had to reach Milano in nine riders.

Were you bothered a lot by your stomach problems?

The biggest problem was that I could not eat properly. I ate only buns or bananas, my body could not digest any gels. I felt very weak and I had a temperature in the evening. Whenever I tried to go full gas I could feel that my energy drained away quickly. In the mountains I was bothered a lot as I wasn’t able to help as much as I wanted.

You also suffered a big time loss…

It was because of the fact that in the stages we had to start working sooner than in the finale. I always tried to keep up with the front group as long as possible but when I felt that my tank was getting empty I got into a small group and softly pedaled to the finish.

Wasn´t it risky to leave Contador isolated?

It was not the ideal scenario but basically, our team was controlling the race from the first day and the energy drained away quickly. Alberto showed his great power, he managed to cope with every situation.

But he had a bad day in the stage atop Sestriere. Were you worried when you found out that he was falling behind on Finestre?

No, because he had a big advantage in the GC and he could keep his cool. He blew but I think that he had everything under his control. He was lacking probably because of his aggressive riding in the previous days.

What flashed through your mind when he crossed the finish line in Milano?

I hit a manhole cover and punctured so I finished with my both tires flat. This accident happened to three of my teammates so we could not finish alongside Alberto. But we were all happy with the outcome.

Are you planning to take some days off?

I am traveling to the Czech Republic for a couple of days but tomorrow I will take a short ride to spin my legs. I´m getting back to training on Thursday in Italy.

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