Wednesday 6 July 2016 19:45, UK
Alberto Contador admitted he struggled to breathe at the end of stage five of the Tour de France but insisted his 33-second time loss was smaller than he expected.
The Spaniard is suffering from superficial injuries sustained in two crashes on the race's opening weekend and was distanced in the final 3km following an attack from Romain Bardet.
The result continues what has so far been a nightmare first week of the Tour and leaves him 1min 21sec adrift of main rivals Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana in the general classification.
Contador said: "It was better than I expected. I lost less time than I expected. The stage was always going to be difficult and I knew that the other teams were going to make it tricky for me.
"The last part of today's stage was really tough and I just didn't find it easy to breathe.
"Hopefully, every day I can recover. I will give my best. I'm feeling better than I was a couple of days ago. I feel like I am bouncing back."
Contador was already an underdog to both Froome and Quintana in the race for overall victory and will need to mount a remarkable fightback if he is to win the Tour for the third time in his career.
He understands the scale of the challenge now in front of him but insists he has not lost heart.
"Of course, my two crashes of the first days hurt a lot," Contador added. "I didn't lose the morale, the crowds support me, it's incredible the support I'm getting. I'm going to do my best and see what I can do."
The Tour continues on Thursday with a 190.5km sixth stage from Arpajon-sur-Cere to Montauban. Find out more about the route in a our race guide and follow the stage with our live blog from 1pm BST.
