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.
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Contador goes on the offensive early
The situation was almost hopeless. Although Alberto Contador was only 16 seconds behind Joaquim Rodriguez after 28 stages, hardly anyone believed in a change of leadership. The leader performed much too confidently. Because a total of nine mountainous stages have been completed so far and Rodriguez was able to place ahead of Contador in each of them. It was only successful in the time trial "El Pistolero" at "Purito" time to make up. Therefore, the Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank team had to come up with something if they wanted to turn the tide. And that's exactly what team boss Bjarne Riis seemed to have done on the morning of September 5, 2012. Because together with his teammates - above all Jesús Hernández and Sérgio Paulinho - Alberto Contador went on the offensive early on. The team attacked on the second mountain of the day. Leader Joaquim Rodriguez was caught off guard, as was third overall Alejandro Valverde.
Even television was caught off guard by the attack
Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank's attack came so unexpectedly and early that it was not caught on TV cameras. By the time the transmission began, the precarious situation had already been established. In the first group was Contador with numerous helpers. Behind them, Valverde and Rodriguez fought with their men to catch up. That's how it was almost complete 17th part from Santander to Fuente Dé for the big battle of the favourites. It quickly became clear that Contador's teammates were doing a better job. The distance grew.
Tiralongo thanks Contador
Only when the forces of the water carriers subsided did the captain attack himself. He was now on his own for more than 20 kilometers – at least almost. Because in Paolo Tiralongo he found another supporter. This caused incomprehension among many spectators, because after all the Italian was not part of the Spaniard's team. But Tiralongo remembered them 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2011. At that time he had been caught as a breakaway by Contador in the last kilometer. But instead of overtaking, he let Tiralongo win the day. This allowed the Italian to celebrate the greatest success of his career. About a year and a half later it was payback time!
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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 national tour in his career. Contador, on the other hand, won the Vuelta for a third time in 2014. Three years later he ended his career here. At his last Vuelta he was even allowed to have one stage win look forward to the Angliru.