Contador hints at Retiring if he Wins the Tour de France

Trek-Segafredo's Alberto Contador has stated that his main objective for the 2017 season is to win the Tour de France, now adding that if he does so, he will retire from professional cycling

During an interview with The Cycling Podcast the Spaniard said that he reconsidered his idea of retiring in 2016 when he thought about the option of winning the French Grand Tour of 2017.

"When I made the decision to continue, one of the objectives was to win the Tour de France. If I win it, it will be the best moment to leave cycling."

"The Tour is the biggest race in the world. It's the race that has a bigger impact for the sponsors and the fans. It's the race that changes your life when you win it once. That's why a big part of the final budget of each team goes to the Tour. That is why you need to set as a big objective every year to ride it."

Contador said in the interview that he has many reasons to continue riding. "The first is because my level is high and I maintain it. With the watts you can see your level in comparison with the years before. The second is because people ask me all the time "'Why are you leaving?'. And the third one is that I have a lot of passion for my work. If I have fun riding, why wouldn't I continue?"

The rider also commented on the route for the 2017 Tour de France and thinks that it will be an open race. "I like that the time trials aren't too bad for me, especially in respect to Chris Froome. And for the rest, I think it will be an open race that will allow different tactics to last year's. Then there was a very strong team that stopped all the attacks and this year there will be more options to attack."