Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has acknowledged his Astana team is severely weakened after Lance Armstrong’s departure and the mass exodus of riders that followed the American to RadioShack.
“I know that right now we’re not at the level of Armstrong’s RadioShack [team], but the atmosphere is great and the desire to work hard is there,” Contador said at a preseason training camp on Friday, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport’s Web site. “Let’s discuss it again in a few months.”
Contador wasn’t interested in rehashing his intra-squad rivalry with Armstrong this year.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I’m focused only on 2010. The past is past,” he said. “I’m not interested in the polemics.”
Of Astana’s nine-man team at this year’s Tour, eight are now on Armstrong’s new RadioShack squad.
Contador can count on Alexander Vinokourov, who is back from a two-year doping ban, and recently signed former Tour winner Oscar Pereiro.
Armstrong’s top teammates include Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloeden.
“There are a lot of rivals for the 2010 Tour,” Contador said. “In 2009, Andy Schleck was the one who made me sweat the most, but I’m going to keep an eye on Leipheimer.”
Former Astana team director Johan Bruyneel also joined RadioShack and Contador did not appreciate how Bruyneel and Armstrong plotted their new team throughout last season.
The Spaniard said he would prefer a transfer system similar to that in European club soccer, where teams pay transfer fees to acquire players.
“Pay a fee and the rider can be freed. Maybe the teams won’t be in agreement, but that’s what I think,” Contador said.
Contador said he would make debut next season by attempting to defend his title at the Tour of Algarve in Portugal in February.
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