Jacinto Vidarte para www.albertocontador.com
 
This season opener in Portugal will long be remembered as the race of the crono bike controversy. The situation was almost disastrous for Alberto, but in the end it served both to sweeten the overall triumph and, on the other hand, to prevent him from scoring a better time in the final race against the clock, which was won by a brilliant Luis León Sánchez.
 
After seven months without competing other than in a few exhibition criteriums, Alberto Contador started his journey toward the next Tour de France in the same place he began in 2009, the Volta ao Algarve. The centerpiece was also the same—the summit finish at Malhão—but the final time trial was shorter and less difficult, a factor that insured that anyone aspiring to an overall win would have to give it everything in the mountains.
 
But before all that, this was Alberto Contador’s debut with “Astana 4.0”, the new team managed by Sanquer and Martinelli, who are committed to building a squad around their Spanish leader with full support for him from every man.
 
The Volta ao Algarve has been a challenge with many facets, which Alberto has overcome one after another. The same is true of his team, who projected an image of solidarity, of motivation and sacrifice that has left Contador filled with pride, delighted with the work of his teammates. That has been the most important message of the race, together with evidence that Alberto is already well along the road that he traveled in 2009.
 
Last year, Alberto lost the sprint on the Alto do Malhão by a whisker to Toni Colom, but this year he gave that option to no one. Thanks go to his teammates, who worked magnificently throughout the stage to make life difficult for the opposition until the foot of the last peak. Here David de la Fuente, in a display of class and strength, launched an attack that only his boss could follow. Alberto was not left to fight on his own until the last 1.5 kilometers, when he took off alone and sailed through the goal with arms raised. Behind him, the closest in pursuit were Tiago Machado and Levi Leipheimer, who placed second and third respectively.
 
A stressful interlude ensued between the Friday stage win and the time trial on Sunday, caused by the sudden ban on using the Shiv crono bike, the same model Cancellara had ridden to victory in the 2009 World Championships. The new UCI regulations had required radically changing the design of the handlebars for this year, but nothing had been said about the two small existing projections at the union of the frame’s down tube with the front fork. Two days before the crono, the UCI delivered its definitive word on the ban, therefore necessitating an emergency search for an alternative for Alberto, who was in danger of seeing his winter of careful work adapting to the new machine go down the drain.
 
With no time to spare, some frames from the older Specialized Transition model were produced, on which it was possible to make the changes  required by the UCI. Alberto and his mechanics worked without rest in order to optimize a bike capable of defending the yellow jersey that had cost so much work to maintain during the fourth stage. The tension reached its height when Alberto did his first trial run, after Saturday’s stage. Everything went badly. Astana’s mechanics, together with men from Specialized and SRAM, did not stop working until, on Sunday morning, Alberto tested the machine again and this time gave it thumbs up: he would take the start confident of being able to defend his position.
 
The race against the clock was spectacular from start to finish. First due to slim margins, then to changeable weather conditions—with rain that kept the roads wet until just before the departure of the favorites—and finally due to the route, mostly flat but with a few small climbs, changes of pace and several dangerous curves in which the race could be lost.
None of this was an obstacle for Alberto, who at least had the small satisfaction of being able to introduce the Spanish Champion’s new TT kit, since the one provided by the organization was the wrong size. Contador executed a great race, only ceding 13 seconds to Luis León and taking differences on his more immediate rivals, Machado and Leipheimer, who could do nothing to challenge the final victory.
 
The mission was accomplished: the first test of 2010 was a resounding success both for Alberto and for Astana, who go home stronger, even though along the way they lost Renev to a case of gastroenteritis and De la Fuente suffered an injury—a bruised knee. To compensate, the good news was the presence of Oscar Pereiro during the entire week. Pereiro went to the Algarve to do an intensive training block while his teammates were competing. The result, another boost to the morale of the whole group, was his commitment to making the team for Paris-Nice, the next date on Astana’s 2010 calendar for Alberto Contador, who’s feeling better every day.