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
First Published: Sep 23, 2008
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Latest Comments
I hope the government displays the correct 'moral fibre' attitude and also piles on the Fuel Price Escalator
I can't leave this 'ER' stuff unchallenged! We do not say ER!!
I was around in 1973 and remember the impact that the oil crisis and the subsequent oil price hikes had. That was a missed opportunity; this may be the second chance we've been waiting 52 years for. Hasn't come to that yet, but we need to be ready if it does.
[placeholder for obligatory picture meme of Inigo Montoya]
I think you're going to need to be more specific, because no-one can tell who or what you're responding to.
That word… it doesn’t mean what you think it means.
"I see many children in the ER with life altering injuries caused by crashing bikes while not wearing helmets. I also hear stories from paramedics about children who don’t even live long enough after a crash to get to the ER. Same with adults, but less so." Again, observer bias writ large. Do you also see the many, many more people who die because of obesity and associated illnesses because they didn't cycle? The health benefits of cycling outweigh the negatives by a huge margin, but this is never acknowledged by ER staff who only see dead/injured cyclists not the people who die from not cycling. Just because you see something doesn't mean it is universal, and there is much more too it than just ER. "Listen to the people whose job it is to scrape you off the road." Why would I listen to people with such a narrow viewpoint that they can't acknowledge that there is more too it than just what they see? People who literally don't understand that it's far bigger than them and their skewed views. "Wear a helmet, don’t trash people who do, and don’t nitpick about whether a helmet saved a life – if she thinks it did, that’s her right." No, I won't wear a helmet, that's my choice and having read a lot about it, that is completely justified. I don't tell people what to do, maybe you could do the same? I do suggest that they go and look at the evidence and data, otherwise, like you, they might be arguing from a false premise. She is entitled to think that a helmet saved her life, and it isn't nitpicking to say that is extremely unlikely, given the data. It also isn't nitpicking to point out that her sponsors likely include the company that made the helmet.
I'd rather listen to the people who are working to prevent so many traffic collisions. There's no clear evidence that helmets do anything to make cyclists safer (though there is limited evidence to suggest that bike helmets make cyclists less safe) though they do provide a small amount of protection that is likely ineffective in multi-vehicle collisions. You're using a strange logic really. I wouldn't head straight to rubbish collectors to inform me about the best shopping decisions, though it is clearly their job to collect the remnants of my shopping. Similarly, I wouldn't go to a sewer engineer to get the best health advice to keep my toilets regular etc. To be honest, your mention of "children in the ER" seems like an emotional distraction technique to prevent people from thinking clearly.
I see many children in the ER with life altering injuries caused by crashing bikes while not wearing helmets. I also hear stories from paramedics about children who don't even live long enough after a crash to get to the ER. Same with adults, but less so. Listen to the people whose job it is to scrape you off the road. Wear a helmet, don't trash people who do, and don't nitpick about whether a helmet saved a life - if she thinks it did, that's her right.
Likely due to the right wing oligarchs that almost all our media. Even the BBC is right wing and will even frame questions using a far right wing world view when interviewing Greens or Lib Dems (are they even still around?).