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That's what they teach us in our MBA classes, and Contador has definitely seized his opportunity!

http://www.velonews.com/article/83438/breschel-wins-madrid-finale-as-contador-wins-the-vuelta

Contador wins the Vuelta
Contador: ‘Don’t know what I’ve achieved’
Posted Sep. 21, 2008

With his third grand tour victory in barely a year, Alberto Contador has quickly grown from cycling’s boy wonder to the peloton’s new alpha male.

The 25-year-old Spanish climber lived up to expectations to win the 63rd Vuelta a España to complete cycling’s “triple crown” and becomes just the fifth rider to win all three grand tours.

“Now I am the winner of the Vuelta. Before I crossed the finish line I didn’t dare say it before, because today there was a crash with 3km to go and was just able to get around it,” Contador said at the finish line in Madrid. “I still don’t realize what I’ve achieved. It’s been a long three weeks and the race was difficult to win. I haven’t had a chance to reflect, but I am sure in the coming weeks I will have a chance to enjoy it more.”

The Astana captain avoided two crashes in the final three kilometers of the 102km final stage to finish in the pack behind stage-winner Matti Breschel (CSC-Saxo Bank) to win the 2008 Vuelta by 46 seconds to teammate Levi Leipheimer. Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) rounded out the podium at a distant 4:12.

This Vuelta victory won’t have an asterisk next to it.

Contador’s win at the 2007 Tour might have come by default following the departure of race leader Michael Rasmussen with four days to go while his Giro win in May was also unexpected after he interrupted his beach vacation when the team received an invite just eight days before the start.

But Contador had the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders as he started his first grand tour as a pre-race favorite. He carried that burden well and easily beat back a determined field to win his second grand tour in 2008.

When asked if he could have won if he was on another team, Leipheimer was gracious.

“I don’t know what would have happened if the circumstances had been different, but Alberto came here with a lot of pressure and I had no pressure at all,” Leipheimer said Saturday. “Alberto started the Vuelta with all the pressure as the big favorite and he handled it well. He deserves to win this Vuelta.”

Making history
Contador surged into the overall lead with a stage victory up the fearsome Angliru climb in stage 13. He won again the next day to confirm his status as leader and rode just good enough up Saturday’s climbing time trial at Navacerrada to hold off Leipheimer to secure overall victory.

His confident performance and fan-friendly personality was just the boost Spanish cycling was looking for following a string of debilitating doping scandals.

With three grand tour victories in rapid succession, Contador has all the pieces in place to become cycling’s next dominant rider.

“Alberto was strongest in all the key moments,” Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel told VeloNews. “He’s the best climber in the peloton right now and he can defend well in the time trials. Those are the qualities you need to win grand tours. If you put a good team around him, he can win many more.”

At 25, Contador becomes just the fifth member of the grand tour “triple crown” club and matches the feat set by cycling’s legends, Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.

Anquetil was the first to complete cycling’s grand tour sweep, with five Tours, two Giros and one Vuelta between 1957-1964. Gimondi became the second, winning one Tour, three Giros and one Vuelta from 1965-1976.

Merckx, who holds the record with the most grand tour victories at 11, won five Tours, five Giros and one Vuelta from 1969-1974. Hinault held the record for claiming all three within the shortest time frame, winning the first of five Tours in 1978, his first of two Vueltas in 1978 and one of three Giros in 1980, within a period of 26 months.

Contador becomes the first to complete the cycle since the Vuelta was moved from April to September in 1995.

It was the Tour’s “veto” of the Astana team from the 2008 Tour that opened the door for Contador’s quick succession of grand tour victories.

Leipheimer put it best on how Contador managed to win all three so fast.

“If Contador had ridden the Tour this year, maybe he wouldn’t have had chances to win the Giro and Vuelta this year,” Leipheimer told VeloNews. “I know from experience that when you focus on the Tour, you don’t race the Giro or Vuelta. I guess there could be a silver lining in that after all.”

Leipheimer’s ride
Leipheimer fulfilled his word to work for Contador, but never gave up his own options for victory. The 34-year-old Montanan seemed to say that if Contador wasn’t going to win this Vuelta, he was.

“I can be very happy with this Vuelta. I won two stages and the team won with Alberto. We showed that we were the strongest team from start to finish,” Leipheimer said. “

With second, he bested his previous best in grand tours with third in the 2001 Vuelta and third in the 2007 Tour.

He matched his mark as the only American to finish on the Vuelta podium and joined the club of American stage winners at the Vuelta that also includes Guido Trenti (an Italian with a U.S. license), Dave Zabriskie, Tom Danielson and Jason McCartney.

Without time bonuses, Leipheimer and Contador would have tied for the overall.

Contador earned 58 seconds in bonuses, including 40 seconds in his two stage victories. Leipheimer earned 12 seconds in bonuses, from his second place at Fuentes de Invierno, but didn’t earn any bonuses in his two time trial victories.

The tie-breaker, measured in decimals taken in time trials, would have tilted toward Contador, however. Contador’s decimals were 0.0570 while Leipheimer’s came down to 0.1240.

Despite the rising profile of Contador, Leipheimer said he’s happy at Astana.

“I have another year of contract with the team. I am happy here,” he said. “I think this team pushes me to be the best I can be. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Sastre’s torrid third
Sastre ended a traumatic Vuelta with third to go along with his Tour de France victory in July.

Sastre held off a strong charge from Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo-Galicia) and dodged a bullet when Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) finished fifth after losing more than three minutes in the second week in a transition stage to Suances.

Sastre’s podium came after a tumultuous Vuelta that saw a breakdown between him and CSC-Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis.

Though specifics were hard to confirm, what’s sure is that Sastre and Riis are ending their seven-year relationship on bitter terms as Sastre moves to Cervélo for the 2009 season.

Sastre went public in the final week by declaring in press interviews, without ever identifying Riis by name, that the Danish manager was trying to divide the team against him.

"There is a person who has harmed and divided the team from the beginning. He’s still doing it. And that person hasn’t wanted that this team do anything in the Vuelta. That was his intention. He has harmed everyone,” Sastre said. “You have to overcome a lot of things, but it’s necessary that the person who has to push is really pushing. But that this person, far from pushing, that person has been dividing.”

Sastre rode well up the Navacerrada climbing time trial to secure his fifth career grand tour podium and end a bitter Vuelta on a high note in Madrid.

“Now I can finally relax. The past three days I’ve recovered the spark and smile. It’s been a hard Vuelta and a long year, but now I’ve fulfilled my dreams,” Sastre said.

Other standouts
David Moncoutie (Cofidis) came back from two devastating injuries that pushed him close to retirement to win the climbing stage to Pla-de-Beret and claim the best climber’s jersey.

It was a strong Vuelta for the French, that saw stage victories by Sebastien Hinault (Credit Agricole) and strong rides by Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), who became the first Frenchman to wear the leader’s jersey since Laurent Jalabert.

Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) delivered on his promise to win a stage in his grand tour debut as well as claim the points jersey.

Other young riders did well, including Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step) with a stage win and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) with seventh overall in his grand tour debut.

Spain took its fair share of victories, with two by Contador, three by Caisse d’Epargne and one by Oscar Freire (Rabobank), but the foreigners had plenty of success in Spain.

Paolo Bettini, Leiphemier and Tom Boonen all took two wins each. More than half the stages were won by just three teams, with Quick Step winning five stages, with Astana taking four and Caisse d’Epargne three.

Despite the long distance, 131 of 171 riders finished the Vuelta. Most who pulled out left early to prepare for the world championships.