Astana Cycling Team

A DASHED HOPE

September 1 - Why Contador was out of reach for Garmin
In today's Boulder Report, Joe Lindsey and Garmin-Slipstream manager Jonathan Vaughters discuss the team's failed bid to sign Alberto Contador. In respectful terms, a realistic Vaughters reveals that Contador at Garmin was a dream that simply could not come true at this time.

BR: Was there anyone you DID have negotiations with who you didn’t get?

V: Not really. We don’t have megabucks to play around with.

BR: What about Contador specifically? You guys were said to be one of a handful of teams in the real running for him.

V: Contador – there was a lot of speculation there. On the whole thing with getting him for the Tour, a lot of things needed to happen. It’s not like we could just afford that out of our normal budget. Typically what we look for is a guy like Wiggo – a great rider, no one quite believes in him yet, and an incredible talent and you give him an opportunity to explore the depth of that talent. That’s what we’re about. I think Svein (Tuft) is another example of that.

BR: After the Tour, with how Wiggo rode and Christian and Tyler, did you seriously entertain going after Contador?

V: Alberto’s situation has always been so complicated. He’s a great rider, and an incredible talent. But he is under contract to Astana, and the late payment issues, and the complexity of that situation was, and is, difficult.

I like Alberto, I think he’s a nice guy and an unbelievable talent, but for all the pieces of puzzle to come together to sign him, I mean: why do I want to get into a legal battle with…

BR: The Kazakhs?

V: Yeah. I just think that he’s a great talent but it’s a lot of complexity involved and I don’t know – who knows what the future will hold. I’m not sure anyone has the money to get him, and I don’t know if the Kazakhs will let him go. Think about it from Astana’s perspective: if they lose him, they potentially lose their ProTour license, their Tour invitation. That’s not a simple calculus. It’s not like “Oh, well, we won’t win the Tour, but Vinokourov will win a stage and get eighth overall.”

You know that’s a situation where if they don’t have Alberto, the Tour says you can’t come, or the UCI says “The level of riders you have isn’t sufficient to really keep a ProTour license.” So why would they let him out of that contract? He’s got a good legal case for sure – the management has changed, a lot of things have changed in that situation, but a buyout? No.