Alberto Contador Velasco was born in Madrid, in "12 de Octubre" hospital, on December 6th, 1982, and since he was a child has lived in Pinto (Madrid), where his parents emigrated to in 1978. his family comes from Barcarrota (Badajoz), where he has many relatives and friends.
Alberto, son of Francisco and Francisca, is the third of four brothers (Francisco Javier, Alicia, Alberto and Raúl). Thanks to the older one (4 years older than Alberto) he discovered his interest in cycling. Previously, he had practiced football and athletics - sports in which he was good at too - although he finally chose cycling to became a professional.
He had clear what he wanted to do and had spared no effort to obtain it. Possibly, his family experiences (his small brother Raúl, whom he adores, has cerebral paralysis) have taught him so much about life's difficulties and problems. For him, the person's value is over everything.
With 15 years he began to compete in cadets' category in the team cyclist that existed in Pinto. One year later, he went to the Real Velo Club Portillo, from Madrid, and although neither in that year neither in the first of juvenile category got any victory, he demonstrated great qualities when the road leaned up.
In the second year of juvenile his first victories arrived, specializing in the mountain prizes and highlighting in well knows tours of the Spanish calendar as Volta al Belaya, Route of the Wine, Sierra North and Volta to Talavera, in the last one with the Spanish selection.
In 2002 he conquered the time trial Spanish Championship under-23. The following year, in 2003, debuted as professional with the team ONCE-Eroski with which obtained his first victory as professional (the time trial of the Tour of Poland).
At the age of 24, he already knew very well what was to win,but he also knew how hard and unjust life could be. In 2004, while he was contesting in the first stage of the “Vuelta a Asturias”, he suffered from a hard fall and, after a few days at the hospital and after having returned home, he started to feel bad again, so he went back to the hospital, where he was diagnosed a cerebral ' cavernoma ' on which he had surgery. That season he did not return to compete anymore; but, after an arduous recovery, Alberto returned to cycling in 2005 and, just on the first race, the “Tour Down Under” in Australia, obtained the victory in the most important stage. as he said to his mother just three hours after his serious surgical intervention, "Where there´s will there´s a way".
Since then, Contador ' s career has continued in an amazing progression, which also has speeded up since his arrival to Discovery Channel team in 2007, in 2007, with which conquered the Tour de France and another important number of successes. The last inflection point in his sport trajectory has been his pass to Astana team, with has gotten the Giro de Italia and the Vuelta a España.
After winning the Vuelta a España, Alberto at age 25 has entered cycling legend by becoming only the fifth rider in history to win all three grand tours, or in other words, cycling’s “Triple Crown.” His name now stands next to those of Anquetil, Gimondi, Hinault, and Merckx. He has also become the third rider in history to win the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year, after Merckx and Battaglin.
