VeloNews today: Contador Rips Armstrong
Tour de France winner Alberto Contador on Monday launched a stinging attack on teammate Lance Armstrong, saying relations between the two were tense throughout the race.
"My relationship with Lance is non-existent. Even if he is a great champion, I have never had admiration for him and I never will," the Spaniard told a news conference in Madrid.
[snip] ..."It was a delicate situation, tense, the two riders who had most weight on the team did not have an easy relationship and that puts the rest of the technical staff and the riders in an uncomfortable position," said the 26-year-old Contador, who also won the Tour in 2007.
Well, guess that settles the question about where AC will or at least won't be riding next year!
clarification of above: that was an AFP story in velonews.
"He is a great rider and has completed a great race but it is another thing on a personal level, where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will.
"On this Tour, the days in the hotel were harder than those on the road.
"The situation was tense and delicate because the relationship between myself and Lance extended to the rest of the staff.
"The two riders who had most weight on the team did not have an easy relationship and that puts the rest of the technical staff and the riders in an uncomfortable position."
After a successful return to the race following his retirement, third-placed Armstrong will return next year in the colours of his own team he will set up for the new season.
Contador will also be in new colours next year, as he was clearly not happy with Astana for bringing in another big name in Armstrong.
"We'll have to see what happens," Contador said of his fture. "I don't know where I will go but it will clearly be with a team that is 100 percent behind me."
I doubt he really means that first part. In interviews he has said Lance was his hero and his inspiration during his hospitalization for an aneurysm. But either way I don't blame him for being ticked that Lance was brought onto his team after he was chosen to run with Bruyneel. It was all just un. fortunate.