After dying his hair pink to celebrate his first Giro d’Italia victory as a team owner Oleg Tinkov told about Alberto Contador's victory and he hopes that he will be shine this summer in the Tour de France... and maybe in the Vuelta a Espana.
"It’s my first Giro win and yes, I admit, I was worried until Alberto reached the finish. I spoke to him afterwards and he reassured me that he was always in control but my heart had been beating fast. If Alberto was at 175 during the stage, I was at 170. It’s easy to say for him everything was okay because he’s won lots of Grand Tours, I haven’t, not yet at least”, the extrovert Russian explained according to Cyclingnews.
With Peter Sagan and Rafal Majka, El Pistolero will have a strong team. "Alberto won the Giro so I think our team was strong. Some teams had six or seven guys up there sometimes but Alberto won the Giro. There’s not much else to say."
"We’ll have good riders for the Tour de France. We’ll have the likes of Rafal Majka and others and the team will be stronger. I believe in my team and cannot accept criticism of my team. We did a lot of work during the Giro. Astana had lots of guys up there but what did they do? Even if there had been nine Astana riders and Alberto alone, he’d still have won."
And, if Contador wins the Tour de France, Tinkov hopes to see him on the third three-week race of the season. "It’s a big ask for him now. As I said I came up with the idea of the three Grand Tour million dollar challenge, I believe the best riders should compete against the best in the Grand Tours. Of course Nibali, Froome and Quintana will be fresh for the Tour and Alberto will start after a tough Giro but if he wins, and I think he will win, he’ll confirm that he is the best Grand Tour rider of his generation. Even if Alberto finishes second or third and Nibali, Froome or Quintana, who is the strongest Grand Tour rider? Of course it’s Alberto. No doubt…”
"It’s up to Alberto to decide about the Vuelta, he’s boss of team not me. But if he wins the Tour after the Giro, then I think he should definitely go for Vuelta."
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