Professional Cycling - Alberto and the Press

Contador's uneasy relationship with Bruyneel and Lance is coming out more and more. Yesterday he told (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-considers-armstrong-and-leipheimer-tour-rivals)Gazzetta dello Sport he considers Armstrong and Leipheimer rivals. Before that, Lance was just like any other teammate.

Padraig at BKW chalks it up to youthful indiscretion (http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2009/06/house-divided.html), yet one of his commenters thinks the comment, along with his helping Valverde at Dauphine, is part of Contador's bigger coup.

Thoughts?

Either this is part of a plan to catch the other teams off balance, or he's just young and prone to blurt out whatever is on the top of his thoughts, or he's looking to get on to another team.

If the latter, Astana ought to do something about it. You shouldn't take a team to the biggest race of the year if not everyone is 100% behind the team goals, whatever they are. For Astana, that would be seeing the strongest rider with the yellow jersey on the last day. If Contador want's to be that rider, then he needs to make sure he's the strongest rider on the team.

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind who the strong rider on Astana is?

On another note, I'd love to see Contador ride for Caisse d'Epargne; Spanish history (Reynolds in the '80s, Banesto in the '90s), best bike in the peloton (can anyone seriously argue otherwise?), no vs. Lance vs. Levi pre-ride drama (they should save it for the road).

edit: I think the thread title is misleading; half the people on here wouldn't know who "Alberto" refers to. First name basis name-dropping only seems to apply to riders of English speaking nations unfortunately.

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind who the strong rider on Astana is?

There's little doubt in my mind that it's Contador, yet the pressure from the current Astana junta has gotta be serious. It almost looks like AC, whatever confidence he has on the bike, still feels the need to fire off a few warning shots before the battle.

Either this is part of a plan to catch the other teams off balance, or he's just young and prone to blurt out whatever is on the top of his thoughts, or he's looking to get on to another team.

If the latter, Astana ought to do something about it. You shouldn't take a team to the biggest race of the year if not everyone is 100% behind the team goals, whatever they are. For Astana, that would be seeing the strongest rider with the yellow jersey on the last day. If Contador want's to be that rider, then he needs to make sure he's the strongest rider on the team.

I don't think there are many serious observers of cycling who would disagree: Contador is the strongest rider on Astana.

I don't think there are many serious observers of cycling who would disagree: Contador is the strongest rider on Astana.

Lance has said that a couple of times.

Contador's uneasy relationship with Bruyneel and Lance is coming out more and more. Yesterday he told (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-considers-armstrong-and-leipheimer-tour-rivals)Gazzetta dello Sport he considers Armstrong and Leipheimer rivals. Before that, Lance was just like any other teammate.

Actually, this isn't news. His first comments were welcoming, but shortly after he started with the "rivals" line and similar.

More and more I think reporters intentionally misrepresent or quote vaguely the spirit of what someone was trying to say just to get a rise out of whoever something was said about.

Either this is part of a plan to catch the other teams off balance, or he's just young and prone to blurt out whatever is on the top of his thoughts, or he's looking to get on to another team.

If the latter, Astana ought to do something about it. You shouldn't take a team to the biggest race of the year if not everyone is 100% behind the team goals, whatever they are. For Astana, that would be seeing the strongest rider with the yellow jersey on the last day. If Contador want's to be that rider, then he needs to make sure he's the strongest rider on the team.

Well said:thumb: