Astana Cycling Team

Contador a prisoner

by Manuel Martinez, for
September 2, 2009

Despite his wish to leave, the two-time winner of the Tour is tied to Astana. Where he will have to honor the last year of his contract.

Officially, Alberto Contador is resting. He is taking a break after accumulating several criteriums following his Tour de France victory last July. The campaign has gone well and he will start again in Belgium September 6, at Bavikhove.

Following his second triumph on the Champs Elysées, Contador has made sporadic statements about his uneasy relationship with Lance Armstrong during the Tour.

Today, his approach is different. Under contract with team Astana until the end of the 2010 season, the Spanish rider has already voiced his desire for a change of scenery.

Of course, it is out of the question that he join the Texan at Radio Shack, but he is looking for a more serene future with a team built around him and corresponding to his stature. However, more than a month after his triumph, his future remains cloudy.

Contador is very ill at ease in this situation. Alexander Vinokourov’s return to the Kazakh team could have opened some interesting perspectives for the years to come. Obviously, Contador has been disappointed and feels himself trapped in a system where others, like Johan Bruyneel, have managed to get out of the trap.

Contador does not want to say any more for the moment. This contract has one more year to run and he will have to honor it, since the Kazakh conglomerate will not allow him to leave.

A stubborness which leaves the Contador clan somewhat bitter. Fran, the champion’s brother and manager who has tried to sort things out, does not want to say anymore than Alberto, because Contador has no other option but to stay one more year with Astana.

“That’s how it is” says Jacinto Vidarte, Contador’s press man. “Alberto has one year of his contract to honor. We don’t know how to get out of it. It is not the year that remains which bothers Alberto, but the way it’s being imposed. Other staff and riders were in the same situation as Alberto, but everyone has been allowed to leave. It’s not normal.

"Since the end of the Tour, nobody on the Kazakh side has produced a project. They are not serious.

"When you have somebody like Contador on your team, who can win the Tour, you don’t carry on like that. We know that Vinokourov will be on the team next year, but nothing more than that.

"Alberto does not ask for much, but nothing has been done to make him feel that he is being taken care of. He will do the season that he has to with Astana, but he won’t go any further.”

Yesterday, at the start of the fourth Vuelta stage, Vinokourov simply indicated that the Kazakhs authorities were going to draw up the main plans for the Astana team next week. They are going to announce that the team would be in the peloton until 2014.

Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, was in Kazakhstan yesterday on an official visit to attempt to find out Astana’s intentions for the future. Contador was not aware of this.

“We cannot carry on like this” says Vidarte. “You must not take Alberto for a fool. We are going to see what they will tell him in the coming days.”

Despite the proposals of Caisse d’Epargne, Garmin, Rabobank, Quick Step, Sky or Katusha, the contract signed with Astana leaves no real opening for Alberto Contador.

“I think he received propositions from all the Pro Tour teams except Radio Shack.” Says Vidarte. “The season is not over and if we can take advantage of the slightest loophole, we will. But right now we don’t have the key which can set him free” (translated by Kahane)