Jacinto Vidarte for www.albertocontador.com
 
Full of desire and eager to verify his form, Alberto has been looking forward to this appointment, already a tradition on his calendar. Given the mild winters of southern Portugal, he considers this short stage race one of the best possible ways to begin the season. Forecasts of bad weather and the likelihood of a rainy start to this year’s edition have not dampened his enthusiasm.
 
Alberto’s season is off to a happy start. He feels good thanks to training in earnest since Christmas, and the initial review of his team, Astana, is satisfactory. In addition, those in charge of the team have assembled a close-knit group of riders who are motivated and of the quality needed for meeting the ambitious challenges of the season.
 
Alberto is very enthusiastic about his new brand of bike, Specialized. The American maker has offered him a prototype that is markedly “rigid, secure on descents and capable of responding to attacks.” There are still details to polish and new features to incorporate as the season progresses, but appearing in the Algarve will be the first version of the new time trial bike strongly backed by Specialized, who, not in vain, also supply the team of World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara. Alberto is convinced that this machine will help him go a little faster when clad in the newly-designed Spanish Time Trial Champion kit that he’ll premiere in the Algarve.
 
The Volta ao Algarve is Alberto’s first point of contact with competition this season and, therefore, with his new team’s philosophy of using experiences in the first half of the season to determine the best selection of Tour roster from Astana’s available riders. Benjamin Noval will be back with Alberto after being unable to ride last year’s Tour. In addition, Alberto will be accompanied by one of the most interesting signings of 2009, a new teammate that he has great confidence in: David de la Fuente.
 
Also on board will be Alberto’s regular training partner, his neighbor from Parla, Jesús Hernández, who has already had a chance to bring Alberto up to date about the peloton in Australia, where he began the season, not to mention Dani Navarro, another rider who will be seen regularly at Alberto’s side this year.
 
Equally important will be Alberto’s debut under the baton of new director Giuseppe Martinelli. Alberto has a great rapport with Martinelli as well as respect for the Italian’s enormous experience and successes throughout the scope of international grand tours. Having “Martino” in the car gives Alberto a bonus in planning a winning race strategy.
 
Coming on the heels of the Tour Méditerranée, where the team was led by Maxim Iglinskiy and Alexander Vinokourov (3rd and 5th in the final general classification), Astana will take the start on Wednesday at the Tour of the Algarve for Alberto Contador’s first competition date. The Pinteño’s calendar next features the always-interesting Paris-Nice, continuing with the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al País Vasco. The Dauphiné Libéré will provide the final tune-up before the Tour de France. That’s a look into the future. Now it’s time to ride in Portugal, to see how it goes for Alberto, who, in this season’s appetizer, is already defending bib number one.
 
Team Astana at the Volta ao Algarve: Alberto Contador, Jesús Hernández, David de la Fuente, Andriy Grivko, Maxim Gourov, Dani Navarro, Benjamín Noval and Sergey Renev.