As predicted Alberto Contador’s win at the Vuelta on Sunday is already proving complicated for his team Astana. Speaking to the Spanish newspaper AS Contador dropped a strong hint that he would quit the Astana team if it hires Lance Armstrong, who has announced he is coming out of retirement to seek a record eighth Tour de France title. Armstrong has strong links with the current Astana management. Contador was asked by the sports newspaper AS how he would feel if the Armstrong joins Astana. "It would be quite complicated. I think I’ve earned the right to be the leader of a team without having to fight for it," he said in the interview published on Tuesday. "And with Armstrong, there could be difficult situations in which the team would put him first and that would harm me." Armstrong, now 37, shocked the world of cycling earlier this month by confirming that he was planning an audacious comeback with a view to winning a record eighth Tour de France next summer. Astana boss Joahn Bruyneel, who managed Armstrong as director of the US Postal and Discovery Channel teams, said recently he would "not allow" the American to join another team. Contador who has now won three grand tours in 14 months – a feat which guarantees him legend status now says he may quit the Kazakh-backed, Luxembourg-based team if Armstrong signs on, the American will announce his plans at a press conference on Thursday. "I will base my decision on what he says," the Spaniard told AS. "I intend to stay because I am under contract until 2010, but I have received a good many offers from other teams. "Bruyneel believes I can deliver results, but it can’t be denied that he made his name because of his ties to Armstrong." Contador won the Tour of Spain on Sunday to add his victories in the 2007 Tour de France winner and this year’s Giro d’Italia. He is now only the fifth rider in history, and the first ever Spaniard, to win all three of cycling’s three-week Tours. A feat that in most situations would guarantee him an unassailable position in most teams, but Armstrong is different. Contador’s comments to AS are very different from those he made immediately after Armstrong’s announcement and suggest his Vuelta win has emboldened him into letting his true feelings on the Armstrong situation be known. Back on 10 September when asked about Armstrong’s return he said: "I would welcome (Armstrong) into the team with open arms because a cyclist like him would fit in anywhere," "I have always had the highest regard for him and would be delighted to be in the same team as him."
Update: Contador may quit if Armstrong joins Astana- Armstrong to join Astana
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@GMBasix It's not just the end that is off, the whole thing is.
On “Massive” cycle lanes... There is an issue with the amount of road width left - this is small enough for all vehicles, especially buses, to travel down identical trajectories, which wears the carriageway in particular places causing rutting in only a short period of time. On wider roads, vehicles spread the wear over greater parts of the road. So a higher strength underlay/surface is required, which may exist already, but may have to be developed specially. We have several arterial roads in Cambridge which have been rebuilt with cycle lanes & narrower carriageways, which are great, but the roads have deteriorated badly.
@AidanR So you're happy with their reporting? Much more of this and EAPCs will get more regulation despite them not being the issue, much like part of the US (Boston I think). Especially if Reform ever get in.
I feel like there needs to be a "translation" under most of those comments. "I am a shit driver and struggle to maintain a speed or be able to periodically check my spedo without being dangerous" "I like breaking the rules when I drive and I think that I should be allowed to do so with impunity (like those bloody cyclists!!!!!). I struggle to make sensible arguments so I usually resort to using massive overreactions to create strawmen that other people with room temperature IQs can mistake for a cohesive argument"
“Fife Council just hate motorists end off [sic]” There is no full stop at the end of that sentence so, in fact, the end is off and "[sic]" is not required.
@Rendel Harris yeah, I struggle to see where the costs in these things is coming from. They don't have any of the constraints that a normal bike has to worry about when it comes to alignment at the front end, bearings, weight, tolerances. Its literally just a adjustable frame with a small amount of electronics. I understand the convenience angle vs an old bike but it just feels like a lot for something very simple and cheap to manufacture.
@Boopop The BBC are correct, it is an e-bike. EAPCs are a subset of e-bikes; they are not synonyms.
@mattw additionally I would like to see some more restrictions on what's put on sale and to whom; but that appears to be hopeless now (unless / until someone runs over a "significant" politician using a Suron I guess). I hope I'm not doing them a disservice but without actually trying to buy one I couldn't see any clear indicators in e.g. the local Currys PC World that there might be any restrictions on using a non-EAPC powered wheeled thing. But perhaps the staff were all trained in informing customers, or perhaps it was very clearly spelled out on page 38 of the manual?
I appreciate they're showing Trumpton * in that Glasgow visualisation, but there are several things which look a bit childish. Or rather: not suitable for children, or pedestrians, or cyclists... The side street, the main street, the "continuous footway / entrance construction" are all deficient. They should go read Robert Weetman's articles e.g the "quality checklist for continuous footways" and the "Factors in pedestrian-friendliness" for side streets. For one - the side street is one-way, single-lane - so why does it appear so wide? At the very least the width just beyond the continuous footway should be narrower. Then if the main street has speed limits > 20mph where are the separated cycle paths? (Not even a cycle lane marked there...) There are all kinds of issues with the markings, but for the full kerb-nerdery see Robert's blog. * How on earth has he managed to get his name on things *retrospectively*? Truly he's surpassed George Foreman in "putting his name on it" (or in Australia and Hong Kong General Sir George Murray).
Not a problem in France, I have never even heard anyone suggest it might be a problem on public transport. The level of acceptable risk appears to be totally arbitary and in the UK the default action is to always ban and control.