photo by: alex_lee2001
With their first Astana training camp together starting today in Spain’s Canary Islands Contador had some interesting words regarding the team leader position and his teammate Lance Armstrong.
“If we both stick to our schedules, there won’t be a problem1”
It’s a curiously worded statement since neither riders official schedules have been announced yet. Contador has stated many times though his main objective for this season is the Tour De France and as of now it’s the one race that’s noticeably missing from Armstrong’s rumored schedule. So in other words Alberto seems to be saying “If Lance decides to race the Tour there will be a problem”. Is Contador ruling out the possibility that Lance could even ride the Tour as a supporting man for team Astana without causing problems?
Alberto did sprinkle in some lines of praise throughout the interview saying “I’m convinced he (Lance) will strengthen the team” and “For me, it’s a pleasure to be in the same team as a man whom I have always admired.1”. “Be in the same team” though also strikes me as an odd way to phrase it (though this could be just a language translation issue), instead of something like “ride alongside”, “work together in mountains”, or “challenge myself against the best rider in Tour history”.
Astana training camp runs through December 8th in Spain and I’ll keep you posted with any news as hopefully reports of Armstrong’s racing condition will also to be reported.
- AFP, Condador Unsure of Armstrong Level [↩] [↩]
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