Contador said that the most difficult part of the Tour was not in the mountains, but “in the team hotel” without further elaborating in one of his post-tour interviews. Now that the Tour is over and these reports are coming out, we know exactly what he meant. This is his interview from a Spanish newspaper after arriving home in Spain. My Spanish translation skills are terrible, but I will try to summarize. The link is below.
On the day of the final time trial before the start, Contador walked downstairs to the hotel entrance. No teammates. No Johan Bruyneel. No Lance Armstrong. No team bus. No other team cars. Nothing. He asked a hotel employee where everyone was. The hotel employee told him that Armstrong had ordered the Astana helpers and driver to leave right away to pick up Armstrong’s woman and kid, as well as his friends at the airport. Armstrong managed to take away his only means of transport to the start. In a panic, Alberto called his brother to pick him up. The brother, Francisco, told Alberto that he was already on the way because another teammate called him and told him what happened when that teammate realized Contador wasn’t on the bus. Contador’s brother came to pick him up in his own car. Armstrong had attempted to sabotage Contador’s chances of winning before the race even begun! Despite this Contador made it to the start and won the day’s time trial.
Alberto also said that Armstrong tried to undermine him during the three weeks and was successful in turning the team against him. Alberto said that Armstrong was working against him the entire time and he felt marginalized on the team. Alberto said his only friend on the team was Paulinho from Portugal, whom he shared a room with at the hotels. The day after Contador’s attack in the Pyrenees, Armstrong showed his red anger in the team meetings. Alberto said he kept his mouth shut the entire time as he continued to take Armstrong’s verbal abuse which he called verbal jabs. On occasion, Armstrong knowing where Alberto liked to sit on the bus, even had instructed his unaware friends to sit on the bus in Alberto’s spot. Alberto was the one who approached Armstrong and told him that it is about teamwork, not the other way around.
Article here in Spanish. There is more about Armstrong refusing to share a room at the hotel and about his divisive behavior on the team bus as well, but you will just have to find way to read it yourself.
http://www.diariosur.es/20090727/dep...-20090727.html
Originally Posted by bigfred
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