Contador in the market for a new team
Alberto Contador, the 2010 Tour de France winner, announced his separation from Astana at the end of the season, a split confirmed by the team of Wednesday. The champion, now in the market for a new team, recently returned to his native Spain with a hero’s welcome. His third Tour de France victory and fifth Grand Tour victory earned him a reception at the Palacio de la Moncloa in Madrid with the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
"Champion, I want to express our pride, satisfaction and congratulations on this new triumph in the Tour with which moved us in this great month for sports," said Zapatero at the reception.
The local pride is not dampened by Contador’s record of competing for teams not based in Spain. His first Tour de France victory was in 2007, when he was riding for the American-based Team Discovery Channel with Levi Leipheimer, longtime Lance Armstrong ally. Both riders switched to the Kazakhstan-based Team Astana, but missed out on the 2008 Tour when the team was not invited due to a doping investigation including, among others, the Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov. Also making the switch from Discovery Channel was team manager Johan Bruyneel.
In 2009, Armstrong came out of retirement and signed a deal with Team Astana, led by Contador. This sparked a bit of a civil rivalry, when Armstrong was actively competing against his own team leader. While this seems a sure way to crush a team’s chances, the skill of both cyclists was so great that Contador won his second Tour in a row and Armstrong finished in third place on the podium, below Andy Schleck.
After the Tour, Vinokourov’s doping ban ended and he returned to the team. This fueled the flames of the power struggle, now between three cyclists – defending champion Contador, record-holder Armstrong, and the hot-headed Vinokourov. Manager Bruyneel actively opposed Vino’s bid for leadership, but the Kazakh had too much history with his hometown team, and ultimately Bruyneel left, taking Armstrong and Leipheimer with him, to return to America to form Team RadioShack.
Contador remained with Astana for the 2010 Tour but his contract expires at the end of the season, and with Vino as hot-headed as ever, it is high time for a switch. The champion has not signed any agreements yet, however, instead opting for some time to relax and enjoy his yellow jersey outside of the Spanish capital, in his hometown of Pinto with friends and family – after humouring and fans and the prime minister of course.
"You put cycling back at a high level,” said Zapatero. “You are a great example of how to fight and do battle in sport. I'm proud because I have always seen you defend the Spanish flag and what makes Spanish sport great."
Early in the Tour, Contador was leaning toward extending his contract with Astana, but now he is looking for a better offer, stating that he “wants to have time to calmly explore all possibilities available to him for the coming seasons.”
The Spaniard refused a deal from Astana offered to him in Paris on Sunday, and rejected an ultimatum from the team’s management. Speculation has suggested that Contador is in talks with Bjarne Riis, who is looking to rebuild him Saxo Bank team with a new sponsor and with new leaders after the departure of the Schleck brothers for the formation of a Luxembourg-based team.
"By setting a dead line on July 25 evening of the arrival of the Tour de France and then extending it to 48 hours as he had requested, we thought we had complied with the wishes of Alberto Contador,” explained the management of Team Astana. “We have never put any pressure, we have always acted according to his will. His decision to leave does not depend on us but on other outside proposals. We respect his choice, and wish him good luck."
Riis has announced support from US software company Sunguard and is allegedly working a deal with American bike-maker Specialized, who has a personal sponsorship deal with Contador and could facilitate the Spaniard’s transfer. With Riis, the former manager of this year’s runner-up and three-time best young rider Andy Schleck, running a team led by Contador and time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara, it should make for an interest Tour in 2011.
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