Difficult for Contador to win again, says Lelangue

CAP FREHEL, France, July 6 (Reuters) - Alberto Contador’s exertions in the Giro d’Italia, and his early problems in the Tour de France, made it difficult for him to defend his Tour title this time, the director of rival Cadel Evans’s team said on Wednesday.

Evans, riding in his seventh Tour, is the only one of the leading favourites to stay out of trouble on the race so far, while Spaniard Contador lost one minute 42 seconds in the first two stages and hit the tarmac in a crash-ridden fifth stage on Wednesday.
“With such a difficult Giro, I think it is almost impossible (for Contador) to fully recover as we discovered last year with Cadel,” said the BMC team’s John Lelangue.
“The riders who do not ride the Giro go and check the Tour climbs and it is a job Alberto had to do afterwards. He also raced in his national championships, which means he almost never stopped since the Giro.
“What’s more, I don’t think his (Saxo Bank) team is strong enough to help him out,” Lelangue said.
Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, runner-up to Contador in 2009 and 2010, showed signs of weakness in the final climb to Mur de Bretagne on Tuesday, losing eight seconds when Evans attacked. The Australian went on to win the stage.
Other team leaders such as Briton Bradley Wiggins and Dutchman Robert Gesink crashed on the windswept road to Cap Frehel on Wednesday while Slovenia’s Janez Brajkovic of RadioShack withdrew after a crash.
Evans, second in the first stage at Mont des Alouettes and second again with BMC in the team time trial in Les Essarts, trails Tour leader Thor Hushovd by one second in the overall standings.
The 2009 world champion, at 34, is at the peak of his form, Lelangue said.
“Cadel has had an almost perfect season apart from his crash after the Tour of Catalunya,” Lelangue said, dismissing the suggestion that the former mountain bike specialist had been handicapped by racing fewer events in 2011.
“He is one of those few riders who do not need competition to be at their peak. It showed in all the races he entered this season after a break. He did not race before Tirreno-Adriatico and he won it, he stopped before the Tour de Romandie and won it. He took a break before the Dauphine Libere and finished second.
“Age has nothing to do with it. Cadel is 34, not 39, and age is a relative thing. The only thing that really matters is your desire to train hard and fight, and Cadel has plenty of it for sure,” Lelangue said.