Alberto Contador Q&A: First rest day to show if Tao Geoghegan Hart or Geraint Thomas is Ineos leader at Giro d’Italia

Alberto Contador thinks it will be clear by the Giro d’Italia’s first rest day which of Tao Geoghegan Hart or Geraint Thomas is Ineos Grenadiers’ leader in the race.

The British outfit have gone into the 2023 edition of the famous race effectively with dual leadership, with further high-quality cards to play in the form of Filippo Ganna and Thymen Arensman too.

It’s perhaps part of a wider bid to destabilise pre-race favourites Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel during the three-week parcours, which begins on Saturday, May 6 in Fossacesia.

Ahead of the race, Eurosport caught up with seven-time Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador – himself twice an overall winner of the Giro in 2008 and 2015 – to discuss the teams and the route.

Eurosport: Which team is the strongest and does it impact teams not having one single leader?

Alberto Contador: If you are the leader you are not happy when you have another rider that is trying to be the team’s leader. But if we look at Ineos, Thomas was really strong and Tao is maybe not at the same level, but in the Tour of the Alps, Tao was really strong. Ineos will play with these two riders and Arensman too who is a really strong rider and a big talent.

After the race, we will know which was the leader for Ineos. I think we will know after the first rest day. Thomas has had many years fighting for the GC and we will see. This Giro is important for him to go for a good position.

E: The Giro d’Italia involves an incredible 50,000 metres of altitude and almost 3,500 kilometres of racing, with three time trials and five mountain finishes. Which are your favourite stages and why?

AC: I really like the Crans Montana stage, I think it’s a very, very hard stage in the first week. I also really like the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. This will be really hard. It’s a stage that always makes a difference, often with bad or adverse weather, which was fine for me.

And I also like the last time trial. It’s a real wall. We’re talking about 7km at 12% and the last 4km over 15%. That’s what the Giro d’Italia is all about: adaptability.

The time trials will be crucial; if you don’t go well, then you won’t be in a good way. We have five finals at the top that are really hard climbs and with the route ascending more than 50,000 metres, this could affect the race.

There is more than one rider who is good at time trials and if you do well, it’s easy to fight for the victory.

E: What do you think about this year’s course – what are the most decisive stages on this year’s route, or where can you lose the Giro?

AC: In my opinion, this Giro d’Italia will be won in the mountains. The most important thing in the Giro is to not have a bad day. At the Tour de France or La Vuelta a Espana you can lose one minute but in the Giro, if you get dropped, you can lose six or seven minutes. The Giro is different.

I really like the Crans Montana stage in the first week, this will be very interesting.

E: What makes the Giro d’Italia so special?

AC: The hard, demanding and chained passes, together with very variable weather (you can go from 30 degrees Celsius to a day of 0 degrees and snow) and the distances – we are talking about a race with 11 stages of around 200km and that is something that is no longer usual.

The Giro d’Italia is my favourite race for sure. It was my first time in 2008 and three weeks later I won. For me it is the most beautiful race. You can play the race with the tactics, you can break the competitors because you can attack in moments when at La Vuelta or the Tour you can’t.

It is my favourite race, La Vuelta is special because it is at home and the Tour de France is the biggest bike race in the world, but for how you race, it’s the Giro d’Italia.

I love the Giro d’Italia.

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