Astana playing hardball with Contador?

Interesting e-mail just arrived. It says that the cycling team Astana, the one where 2009 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and recently unretired and seven-time former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong were very uneasy teammates during last month's Tour, is expecting Contador to fulfill the third year on his three-year contract next season.

Here's the statement:

In order to clarify some misunderstandings reported in the media, the Astana Cycling Team Management reconfirms that 2009 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is expected to ride for Team Astana in 2010. Prior to the 2008 season, Contador signed a three-year contract with Team Astana, ensuring that the rider will represent the Kazakh-sponsored team for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. "Rinus Wagtmans, official spokesperson for the Kazakh authorities, emphasizes that the Kazakh sponsor are excited about the future of Team Astana. Our sponsors are keen to continue with the team at least until the end of 2013. It is clear that Alberto Contador will be our absolute leader of the team for next season. We are surprised to read that many other teams have reportedly shown their intention to engage our Tour winner when he remains under contract. A transfer is not negotiable and we will honor the signed contract. We look forward to more victories from Alberto in 2010."

Armstrong has already announced his plans to ride for newly formed, American-based Team RadioShack and Astana team director Johan Bruyneel, who helped Armstrong win his seven Tours and Contador win two French Tours plus a Giro d'Italia and Spanish Vuelta, will likely join Armstrong at Radio Shack.

It has been rumored that Contador might sign with another U.S. team, Garmin-Slipstream or with the Spanish team Caisse d'Epargne.

Astana was formed in 2007 by Tour de France podium finisher Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan and funded by the country. Vinokourov was shortly afterward suspended for two years for doping violations. The team was banned from the 2008 Tour de France even though Vinokourov was gone and Bruyneel had taken over. Vinokourov made his competitive return last week and even won a stage at the Tour de l'Ain

When Armstrong came out of retirement in September, he rejoined Bruyneel, his longtime mentor, on Astana and it was never smooth going between Contador and Armstrong.

With Vinokourov determined to return to the top levels of cycling now that his suspension is over and he has rejoined the team, it seemed unlikely that Contador would want to be part of more drama, and there certainly will be some.

Vinokourov started Astana, was responsible for its initial funding and certainly, if Vinokourov -- once considered an overall contender for the Tour de France after Armstrong's retirement -- wants to lead the team, then Contador might be in another situation where he will have to fight for his place as team leader.

Also, Contador lost the chance to defend his 2007 Tour de France victory when Astana was banned from the 2008 race as punishment for Vinokourov's doping problems. Contador certainly doesn't want to share in more punishment if the 2010 Tour banned Astana again because Vinokourov is back.

Last month Contador lost Portuguese rider Sergio Paulhino, who had been considered the one Astana rider loyal to him and not Armstrong. Paulhino has signed with, yes, Radio Shack.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Alberto Contador attends an interview with EFE News Agency in Madrid last Thursday. Photo credit: Mondelo / European Press Association.

Alberto Contador on Lance Armstrong and Tour de France in El Pais

From the moment Lance Armstrong announced he was returning to cycling and rejoining forces with Johan Bruyneel and thus riding for Astana this year, Alberto Contador was in an uncomfortable position. The Spaniard had to compete on his own team for the No. 1 spot a year after winning two of the three grand tours and missing out on defending his 2007 Tour de France win only because Astana was banned from the race in 2008.

So the very public uncomfortableness between the pair for three weeks was undeniable though Armstrong did not shirk his cycling duties and when it was clear Contador would win the race, Armstrong rode hard and well enough to finish third.

There weren't warm handshakes or hugs between the teammates on the podium last Sunday and Contador surely was dealt a tough team hand to play -- how do you interpose yourself between a legend and the man who helped make him one? -- but the public Armstrong bashing Contador has engaged in since leaving France seems pointless and is likely focusing Armstrong very clearly for another run at Contador next year when Armstrong leads the new Team Radio Shack and Contador rides for whoever wins his services.

On several cycling sites you can find this translation of an article in the Spanish daily El Pais and Contador complains that Armstrong dominated meals, stole the use of team cars and even intercepted a water bottle meant for Contador once. Honestly, it makes Contador seem like a sore winner and something of a whiner. After all, Contador has forever the yellow jersey from 2009. Armstrong and Astana couldn't have treated him that badly then. You don't win the Tour without assistance from a team.

Meanwhile Armstrong has been updating his Twitter from a beach in Abacos. He seems to be having more fun this week after the three-week race than the winner.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Alberto Contador rides on the Champs-Elysees with the Spanish flag draped around his shoulders following his overall victory in the Tour de France on July 26. Credit: Christophe Ena / Associated Press

Cycling's best, George Hincapie version

Since I started writing about cycling about six years ago, George Hincapie has always been one of the classiest, most thoughtful, generally all-around good guys among athletes I  have ever met. He returns phone calls, did interviews during  those seven years when he was riding in support of Lance Armstrong where all anyone wanted was to ask about Armstrong, and even this year willingly called me once from France at nearly midnight to help me with a story about Armstrong.

So I'll admit to rooting big time for George on the day he almost but not quite won a stage at the recently concluded Tour, and I am not at all surprised that Hincapie waited until the Tour was finished to check out a collarbone injury he suffered in the 17th stage.

Guess what? He rode most of the final five stages with a broken collarbone. The work he did on Sunday to get his Columbia-HTC teammate Mark Cavendish a sixth stage victory? Every turn Hincapie took over those cobblestones in Paris must have been agony. And yet, not a peep of complaint.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: American George Hincapie, left, reacts as he hugs his teammate Mark Cavendish of Britain, right, who won the 19th stage of the Tour de France on July 24th. Photo credit: Bas Czerwinski / Associated Press.

Back in Spain, Contador knocks Lance Armstrong

Interesting to read now that he's back in Spain, Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has gone public with what he thinks of former seven-time winner and ostensible Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, who finished third in this year's race.

Meanwhile, while Tour de France officials are cautiously optimistic that this Tour ended with no doping scandals and none on the horizon, French anti-doping president Pierre Bordry isn't as certain. He thinks there are new ways to beat the tests, some 14 of which Armstrong alone was subjected to during the three-week Tour.

And Armstrong said on Twitter this morning that he was leaving France and headed for a beach. Probably not for long though. Watching Armstrong chat up practically every cyclist in the peloton on Sunday's final ride into Paris (well, every one but Contador), it seemed as if Armstrong was taking names, numbers and e-mail addresses to use in recruiting riders for the new Radio Shack team. Also Armstrong's competitive season isn't over yet. He plans to race Aug. 21-23 in the Tour of Ireland.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Alberto Contador greets a group of fans as he arrives in Spain on July 27, 2009. Photo credit: Juanjo Martin / European Press Agency.

On a Tour de France rest day, Lance Armstrong is silent but his rivals aren't

No cycling today in France -- it's the 21-stage tour's first of two rest days. But that doesn't mean all the cyclists lay in their Limoges hotel rooms and vegged out. Besides taking leisurely rides to keep their legs in peak form, many riders held news conferences.

For example, young Astana star Alberto Contador held one at a Novotel hotel outside of Limoges where more than 200 journalists showed up and the meeting was convened under a tree next to a swimming pool. Contador said he would not follow Lance Armstrong should the 37-year-old, seven-time Tour winner make an attack in the Alps next week. We think that was Contador's own voice and not team director Johan Bruyneel playing the ventriloquist.

At another news conference, defending champion Carlos Sastre said he was hardly conceding his title to Contador or Armstrong.

And Andy Schleck, another yellow jersey favorite, was optimistic about his own chances but also suggested he would not be surprised if Armstrong won.

Even Garmin rider Bradley Wiggins couldn't help talking about Armstrong.

Armstrong himself, however, stayed silent Monday. He must have actually been resting.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Lance Armstrong takes part in a training session on Monday. Credit: Jasper Juinen / Getty Images

Ben Stiller gives the yellow jersey to ... not Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong's Astana won the Tour de France team time trial today in Montpellier but only by fractions of a second, Armstrong is second overall to Saxo Bank's Fabian Cancellara.

One can think perhaps that Armstrong thought he might have been putting on the yellow jersey Tuesday because his friend, actor Ben Stiller, made the yellow jersey podium presentation to Cancellara. Earlier this year Stiller had hosted a cancer charity event for Armstrong in Los Angeles, and on Monday Armstrong and Stiller had coffee before the start of the third stage.

Already this Tour has been full of energy and intrigue, more than normal in the first week where you'd usually have a series of flat stages offering excitement only to sprinters and where the overall favorites would mostly try to stay safe and avoid the mass pile-up crashes that occur early in the Tour when everybody is fresh and aggressive.

But there was the big break in the peloton that happened Monday when tricky winds played havoc. Armstrong understood what was happening and stayed with Columbia-HTC when it got fed up that none of the other teams with strong sprinters (Columbia has the best in 24-year-old Mark Cavendish) worked to reel in the breakaway group and took off on its own at a point where the route turned and the winds became a super-breezy crosswind. Armstrong and Cancellara stuck with Columbia but Armstrong's teammate and pre-race favorite Alberto Contador missed the split and lost time to Armstrong as did several other favorites such as Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov and Andy Schleck. It was a truly amazing turn of events.

So there was anticipation that with his Astana team favored to win the team time trial that Armstrong might actually put on yellow today.

Not quite.

Armstrong was 40 seconds behind Cancellara going into the stage, and Astana finished 40 seconds ahead of Cancellara's Saxo Bank team. It even took Tour officials about 10 minutes to announce that, after parsing all the numbers, it was Cancellara who kept yellow. Armstrong is second, officially 0.00 behind Cancellara. So, yeah, that's not far behind.

This race is getting so good. And so soon.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Fabian Cancellara remains in the yellow jersey during stage four of the Tour de France. Credit: Gepa / US Presswire

Some words from Lance Armstrong's coach

Lance Armstrong's longtime coach and team director, Johan Bruyneel, has some interesting assessments about the future of his financially plagued Astana team as well as Armstrong's form after the Giro d'Italia and heading into the Tour de France. Bruyneel is usually pretty honest. He's also pretty happy with how Armstrong's comeback is progressing.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Lance Armstrong toasts with Johan Bruyneel in 2004. Credit: Peter Dejong/Associated Press.

Next Lance Armstrong -- step up, Taylor Phinney

While Lance Armstrong has returned home after his 12th-place finish in the Giro d'Italia to await the birth of his fourth child and continue preparing for the start of the Tour de France on July 4, one of his proteges on his under-23 team had a groundbreaking performance Sunday.

Taylor Phinney, son of former Olympians Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, became the first American to win the Under 23 Paris-Roubaix race Sunday. Phinney said it was a lifelong dream to win the race, and his win was big news in the cycling world.

Taylor rides for Armstrong's Trek-Livestrong Under 23 team.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Taylor Phinney at a USOC event in 2008. Credit: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press.

Speaking of quiet athletes, Lance Armstrong spoke words, not Twitter

On the last day of the three-week Giro d'Italia race and after about two weeks of silence (though he faithfully posted Twitter and Facebook thoughts and video), cyclist Lance Armstrong did an actual, speaking with his voice, interview with Universal Sports on Sunday. Universal Sports televised the Giro.

Armstrong, who finished 12th in the Giro d'Italia, began his mainstream media silence after he was an outspoken leader of a partial rider boycott of a stage in Milan. He spoke about his chances at the upcoming Tour de France, about how he is finding that communicating via Twitter and Facebook "eliminates the middleman" in his communication with fans, and admitted he had "a moment or two" last December when he thought it would be easy to win an eighth Tour de France. Not anymore, he said.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Lance Armstrong at the Giro d'Italia. Credit: Damien Meyer / AFP/Getty Images

Lance Armstrong won't be barred from Tour de France

On the website for the French national anti-doping agency AFLD, there is a three-paragraph statement (it's in French, those darn French people issuing statements in French on their French website!) saying that it has closed the investigation of "Showergate" and that Lance Armstrong will suffer no penalties, such as being suspended from the Tour de France in July.

Earlier this month, Armstrong made public a dispute he was having with the AFLD over a 20-minute period when he took a shower and was out of sight of an AFLD doping control tester while Armstrong was doing a training ride at a house he rented in the South of France. After the AFLD announced it was making a formal investigation into the testing incident, Armstrong released a video in which he said he thought the ultimate result of the investigation would be that he would be banned from the Tour de France, a race he has won a record seven times.

Friday via Twitter, Armstrong said "case closed, no penalty, all samples clean. Onward."

There is still the matter of his broken collarbone to be dealt with. Armstrong has yet to say whether he will be able to ride in  the Giro d'Italia, which begins May 9.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Lance Armstrong speaks to the press after leaving the hospital following his injury crash in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon on March 23. Credit: Jaime Reina / Getty Images