With a strong third place behind Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Bauke Mollema (Blanco), Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) bounced back from yesterday's disappointing performance in today's stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Even if the overall victory seems to be out of reach the multiple grand tour winner was encouraged by his performance and regards the race as an important learning experience.

Alberto Contador has always been known for an incredible fighting spirit, and his never-give-up attitude was put on show again in today's stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Just 24 hours after being given a lesson by Chris Froome (Sky) in the mountaintop finish on Prato di Tivo, the multiple grand tour winner fought for bonus seconds to move up the standings.

With 4 seconds for his third place and 3 for his victory in the third intermediate sprint and with rivals Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) in difficulties i the final, he managed to gain enough time to move into 2nd in GC 20 seconds behind Froome. As a consequence of his efforts he also took over the red points jersey.

Contador vowed to continue his fight in the coming days.

“That (the points jersey, ed.) is not the goal. It is to fight for the GC, but of course the jersey is good to have,” Contador said. “Yesterday was not my best day and if I had done the race differently, I could have had more options. Now we must focus on tomorrow and then on the time trial.”

Could have followed Rodriguez' attack

Contador clearly felt considerable stronger than yesterday, and he even thinks that it might have been possible to follow the attack of stage winner Rodriguez. However, lessons learned from his aggressive racing on Saturday kept him in a more cautious mode.

“Every second is important," he explained. "In the final I could maybe have gone with Joaquin (Rodriguez, ed.), but he came out very strong. I preferred to stay at the Froome's wheel because I did not know how he was or if I could catch Joaquin. Anyway, I'm happy with the result”.

Tomorrow's stage is a hilly affair, but with a flat finish and no long climbs it seems more suited to a breakaway than to a big GC battle. Contador did not exclude anything, but chose to focus on Tuesday's final race against the clock.

"Tomorrow I will go as far forward as possible,” he explained. “Tuesday will be an important day in which you have to do well for the GC. The differences are very small, and with the time trial being very short every second will be important.”

Observing the Sky tactic

When Contador lined out his race calendar at the beginning of the year, he pointed to Tirreno-Adriatico as his first major objective of the season. After being left behind by Froome yesterday, overall victory no longer seems to be a realistic goal.

In spite of the disappointing result Contador sees a clear benefit from his participation in Italy.

“Regardless of the result this race is really good for me because I have seen the working system of Team Sky on TV, but never in reality," Contador told. "Now I have been able to see the numbers and the SRM. I think this will help me to plan the tactic in the Tour."

Should Contador fail to beat Froome in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico, he will get another opportunity when they both line up in the Criterium International at the end of the month.