CYCLING LEGEND CONTADOR REFLECTS ON HIS FIRST TWO YEARS WITH EUROSPORT

How have you found your first two years as an expert for Eurosport?
I honestly make a very positive assessment because these are very interesting years for me. The change has been really important because I left the competition at the highest level at a time when I was still in very good. Being able to comment on races allows me to keep in touch with the competition and make my professional retirement more bearable.

How have you found the change of role from cycling legend to living the races behind a microphone?
I can say I'm doing fine. It's also nice to see that other colleagues are contributing to this sport as I am now giving our point of view, sharing time with colleagues with whom you have been learning a lot of things for a long time. Now I'm enjoying it too, even if I'm on the other side. When you compete, you are the focus of attention of everything and now it is different, but it is something natural and I think I am doing very well, I am delighted.

What are your tricks and secrets before going behind the microphone?
Fortunately, I still have many friends and contacts within cycling. That helps me prepare well for the races because it allows me to talk with participants, analyse the approach of the teams before starting the race or simply look at possible scenarios that may arise during the race - and that can be transferred to the spectators.

The other important part is data, which is always important to know because it helps me to add my own thoughts or specifications within the live broadcast. In addition, as I have been able to compete in a lot of the climbs and routes in most of the races, it allows me to contribute with details, curiosities or anecdotes that always come in handy. My obsession is to make people understand or feel the sensations of the cyclists in the key moments.

How have you evolved as a commentator for Eurosport?
I see my evolution in these two years. I am accompanied by great professionals and I form tandem with Javier Ares, whom I admire deeply, and it is true that personally I have improved a lot in this new stage I am living. I consider myself a very perfectionist person, and I have improved because I have gone from attending to the media at a certain time to having to speak for almost five hours. With this experience I have been acquiring resources and fluency to avoid being repetitive, letting everything flow naturally and always trying to improve.

Alberto Contador and Javier Ares (Spanish commentator) are an iconic duo on social media thanks to great races like the Paris-Roubaix 2018 – why?
It's true that those kinds of videos help engage the audience and bring them closer to the competition and make them feel part of it, to live it as if they were really cycling. Also, I remember especially a stage of the last edition of the Giro d'Italia in which we lived some really brutal attacks by Mikel Landa who also came into the race with many real options to win and we lived it with a lot of emotion. That day and with that video that we uploaded to our social networks people could see that we were really vibrating with the race because we got up from the chair and shouted like we were crazy.

What do you think of the rest of the Eurosport team you work for?
We are a great family and it's clear that we are all very happy. In each race either commenting from the studio or physically on-site for a live connection within the race, we how how natural everything is and the love we have for our work. We always want to do things right by listening to all kinds of advice and suggestions to make the most of this sport.

What was your best memory working for Europort during the last Tour de France in 2019?
The last edition of the Tour was really interesting, and we lived it with special emotion. It's also true that it's a race that I have a very special affection for. I remember some impressive stages by Egan Bernal and Julien Alaphilippe who fought for absolutely everything. It was an exciting race in which we saw the great level with which some of the main favourites arrived.

Alberto Contador is an expert for Eurosport's Spanish and international coverage of major events throughout the cycling season.