Cycling highlights: In 2012, Alberto Contador won the Vuelta a Espana for the second time. Actually, he was clearly inferior to Joaquim Rodríguez in the mountains. But a tactical masterstroke by his team turned things around.
 |
 |
Contador goes on the offensive early
The situation seemed almost hopeless. Although Alberto Contador was only 28 seconds behind Joaquim Rodriguez after 16 stages, hardly anyone believed in a change of leadership. The leader was simply too dominant. A total of nine mountainous stages had been completed so far, and Rodriguez had finished ahead of Contador in every single one. Only in the time trial had "El Pistolero" managed to gain time on "Purito ." Therefore, Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank needed to come up with something if they wanted to turn the tide. And that's exactly what team manager Bjarne Riis seemed to have done on the morning of September 5, 2012. Together with his teammates – especially Jesús Hernández and Sérgio Paulinho – Alberto Contador launched an early attack. The team attacked on the second climb of the day. Leader Joaquim Rodriguez was caught off guard, as was overall third-place finisher Alejandro Valverde.
Even television was caught off guard by the attack
The attack by Saxo Bank and Tinkoff Bank came so unexpectedly and early that it wasn't captured by the TV cameras. By the time the broadcast began, the precarious situation had already been established. Contador was in the lead group with numerous teammates. Behind him, Valverde and Rodriguez and their pelotons were fighting to stay in contention. Thus, almost the entire 17th stage from Santander to Fuente Dé became a battle between the favorites. It quickly became clear that Contador's teammates were doing a better job. The gap widened.
Tiralongo thanks Contador
Only when the domestiques' strength began to wane did the captain himself attack. For over 20 kilometers, he was on his own – almost. He found another supporter in Paolo Tiralongo. This caused confusion among many spectators, as the Italian wasn't part of the Spaniard's team. But Tiralongo remembered stage 19 of the 2011 Giro d'Italia. Back then, as a breakaway rider, he had been caught by Contador in the final kilometer. But instead of overtaking him, Contador conceded the stage victory to Tiralongo. This allowed the Italian to celebrate the greatest success of his career. Around a year and a half later, it was payback time!
 |
 |
Rodriguez misses his greatest chance
While Valverde was able to limit the damage in the final kilometers, Rodriguez and his team-mates were completely exhausted. A shot just before the finish speaks volumes. There, the tired Rodriguez in the red jersey can be seen as he drags himself to the finish line in the last few meters. The helpers of Contador and Valverde drive comfortably in his slipstream.
Contador won the stage by a margin of 6 seconds over Valverde. The up to then overall leader Rodriguez lost a whopping 2:38 minutes. For him, the Vuelta victory was a long way off. Although he was able to place ahead of Contador on the two remaining mountain stages and even beat Contador by 47 seconds, the red jersey was taken. Rodriguez finished ahead of Contador on 11 of the 12 mountainous stages – but not on September 5, 2012.
Climbing specialist Rodriguez never managed to win a three-week Grand Tour in his career. Contador, on the other hand, won the Vuelta a España for the third time in 2014. Three years later, he ended his career there. In his last Vuelta, he even celebrated a stage win on the Angliru.