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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@Smoggysteve Financial planning, and I speak from bitter, bitter experience is an incredibly inexact science. The bean counters insist on a number against every variable, which are often just plucked out of the air (last year’s number plus or minus a bit, but never an obviously rounded percentage usually placates them). Then, at end of the year they send reports to the Board saying you missed your made-up target (overlooking the fact that you had no control over the outcome) and you are summoned to explain yourself.
"Not the hardest test in the world..." Crap test. Not sure I'd even have stopped, given that the policeman wasn't holding up his hand in the universal sign language that means 'stop'.
@mdavidford Four days to catch 54 people on their phones, that's pathetic unless Londoners are far more law abiding than Scots, I could spot 54 phone users in a morning!
Why don't the rozzers simply equip themselves with a cheap GPS speedometer, or even just download Strava or a similar app on their phones, and hop on the bike for a quick turn up and down the road, they would quickly be able to see if the bike speed was legal or otherwise.
@Pub bike Even in a ULEZ (as I – and I think you? – know, living in one) there is still a lot of pollution and there always will be as long as ICE vehicles are still in use. In London it's made a great improvement but the air quality on busy central roads at rush-hour is still pretty appalling, so mitigation measures are still needed. I didn't see her talking about unbuilt cycle lanes, why not plant trees alongside those that already exist? They can make a tremendous difference, a number of schools in my area have planted "living walls" to separate their playgrounds from the busy roads on which they are located and apparently they make a very significant difference to pollution levels.
Warms the cockles of my heart that the illegal e-motorbike bros put their lung-health first with their black balaclavas.
Children in cars should also wear masks. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/12/children-risk-air-pollution-cars-former-uk-chief-scientist-warns
I've ridden SPDs on the road for years, as I can't stand walking in road shoes with protruding cleats. Having a road system which is easy to walk in sounds very tempting.
@Rendel Harris Yet she then appears to talk about future measures: "Alternatively, surrounding plants and trees near a cycle lane could also improve the quality of air, whilst physical separation preventing cyclists riding in the same lane as polluting vehicles would also be beneficial.". What about increasing the size of the existing LEZ? More feasible than planting trees near as-yet unbuilt cycle lanes.
@Pub bike To be fair to the good professor, I'm sure as an expert in vascular medicine she would like nothing better than to eliminate pollution but she is offering her advice on how to deal with the situation as it is rather than as we, and doubtless she, think it should be.