Astana holding onto Contador + more racing news

August 17th, 2009 by Al Fresco 1,152 views No Comment

AP Photo/Patrick Herzog, Pool

The big news over the weekend was that Astana expressed their intention to hold Alberto Contador to his contract through the 2010 season, saying “a transfer is not negotiable, and we will honor the contract.”

Contador has made no secret of shopping around for a new team, and has reportedly had talks with Caisse d’Epargne and Quick Step. While he would like to ride for a Spanish team, Caisse d’Epargne management has said that they would need to find a new co-sponsor in order to buy Contador out of his contract. Quick Step is said to have deeper pockets. The problem with Caisse d’Epargne and Quick Step is that there would be no definite leader. I’d love to see Alberto at a team that is fully oriented to support him. If Contador is truly compelled to stay with Astana, he should start throwing his weight around and work with management to build a rock solid, loyal support structure around himself. With his palmeres, he deserves to be the indisputed leader and star of the team.

With a number of riders heading to Lance Armstrong’s Radio Shack Cycling Squad, Astana has a chance to retool. I think that Alexander Vinokourov would have to go. Vino has pledged to support Contador, but I think that he’s a little too much like Lance Armstrong – when push comes to shove, he’ll race for himself.

The team also needs to resolve their financial issues. Astana had financial trouble this year after sponsors defaulted on payments, meaning that riders reportedly went unpaid for long periods. To have a two-time Tour de France winner on your team and not be able to pay your riders would seem to indicate that team management is not making good use of promoting their assets.

Other Racing News:

Tyler Farrar’s victory at yesterday’s Vattenfall Cyclassics gave him a good bump in the UCI pro rankings, pushing him from 57th to 25th place. Alberto Contador remains in the top spot, with Andy Schleck and Roman Kreuziger rounding out the top 3.
Jonathan Hivert, 24 and Cyril Lemoine, 25, (Skil Shimano) have both signed two year contracts with the Sojasun-saur team. Sojasun-Saur will upgrade to a pro Continental license in 2010 and will be eligible for an invitation for the Tour de France. The team had already recruited Jerome Coppel, Sébastien Joly and Guillaume Levarlet (Française des Jeux), Rony Martias ( BBox Bouygues Telecom) and Stephane Pouilhès (AG2R-La Mondiale).
Maurico Soler joins Christophe Moreau and Marzio Bruseghin as the newest recruit of the Caisse d’Epargne team. The 26 year old Colombian won the climbers jersey at the 2007 Tour de France.
Gert Steegmans looks poised to be headed to the Milram team in 2010. He is already said to have a verbal agreement with the team, but still needs to uncoil himself from Katusha, who said last week that they had not released him from his contract, despite being in violation of it.
Milram is looking to Servais Knaven and sprinter Robert Förster to bring the team success in this week’s Eneco Tour (August 18 to 25). The team will be rounded out by Markus Eichler, Thomas Fothen, Artur Gajek, Martin Muller, Wim Stroetinga and Tour de France starter Niki Terpstra.
Astana has announced their squad for the Tour of Ireland. Lance Armstrong will lead a team of Yaroslav Popovych, Jose Luis Rubiera, Janez Brajkovic, Jesus Hernandez, Michael Dab and Haimar Zubeldia. The Tour of Ireland begins Friday, August 21 and ends two days later.

Results:

Oleg Tsjoezjda (Contentpolis) won the eighth stage of the Tour of Portugal. Nuno Ribeiro (Liberty Seguros) won the 9th stage and took over the overall lead.
Kim Anderson (Columbia HTC) took the overall win at the the women’s Tour de France – “La Route de la France:”.
Maxime Monfort of Columbia HTC is the new Belgian national time trail champion. Monfort finished ahead of Quick Step’s Rosseler, Cornu and Devolder.
John Murphy (OUCH p/b Maxxis) won the men’s U.S. criterium national championship in Downers Grove outside Chicago. Five time national crit champ Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) won the women’s title.