Astana REALLY wants Alberto to stay

Several European news outlets are reporting this morning that Astana team management have offered Alberto Contador a new contract with an annual salary of eight million euros (that’s nearly $12m USD, folks). The contract would be for the next four years.

Contador had rejected a new contract with a salary of four million euros earlier this year.

This would seem to indicate that Alberto has yet to confirm with the team for 2010. News reports last week seemed hint that he might be staying with a couple of caveats: He would be free to go if there was a doping case on the team, and, Alexander Vinokourov was not to contest the Tour de France.

Thirty two million Euros is a huge investment in one man. At 26 years of age, he still has a lot of racing left in him, but he could burn out, crash, decide that he wanted to grow olives for a living…

Tags: alberto contador, alexander vinokourov, astana, team management, tour de france 2009