Alberto Contador likely to miss Vuelta +video (in Spanish)

Alberto Contador, who yesterday broke his shinbone during Stage 10 of the Tour de France, has undergone further tests in Madrid today and may not be fit enough to take part in the Vuelta when it starts in less than six weeks’ time.

Contador won the Spanish Grand Tour in 2012 after returning to cycling from a mainly backdated two-year ban, and Team Sky’s Chris Froome, who also crashed out of the Tour in recent days, has expressed the hope that they will lock swords at the Vuelta this year.

However, with less than six weeks to go until the Vuelta gets under way, the Spaniard knows he faces a race against time, and has elected against having surgery in a bid to speed up his recovery.

Quoted on the Tinkoff-Saxo website, Contador said: “The doctor told me that surgery would increase the trauma the knee has suffered and will delay the recovery time even further so I’m not undergoing surgery.

“The good news is that I have no tendon or ligament injured and the fissure is in the best possible place. I’m homebound for minimum two weeks and, until the wounds heal, the leg has to be immobilised.

“Doctors have told me it will be almost impossible to become ready for the Vuelta but we’ll see how the recovery dvelops.

“I’m calm because the doctors gave me the worst case scenario but I will work hard in the coming weeks and we’ll see how far I can get”, he added.