Contador on his rivalry with Armstrong: "If you want respect, you are the first one who has to give it"

Recently, the cyclist from Pinto spoke about his relationship with Lance Armstrong at a different time for both: Armstrong had just won 7 Tour de France, in fact he had made a retirement bluff to then return to Astana; and it happened that in Astana there was already a prominent Alberto Contador with a Tour (the one from 2007), a Giro and a Vuelta a España (the ones from 2008).

The confrontation between Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong

They coincided in 2009 and, as expected, tension arose with the shared goal of winning that year's Tour de France.

A great controversy surrounded the start of that edition of the gala round. The focus was on Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. As we say, the first one returned after a sanction, the second one after stepping aside and returning. Contador, who a few days ago raffled off his 2011 bicycle to help in this current pandemic, spoke about those tough years.

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In fact, in the interview with youtuber Valentí Sanjuan, Contador narrates how it all started, when faced with such magnitude of nerves and tension he decided to go and talk directly with Lance Armstrong. The American told him: "for me it's better if you win the Tour", and less than 24 hours later he warned that he was going to come out biting in the first time trial writing on Twitter "tomorrow in the time trial we will see who is the leader".

From there, all conflicts. Three stages later, a fan cuts off Alberto Contador and his team pulls with Armstrong at the head, leaving their supposed leader to his own survival. Alberto survived, and with the knife between his teeth he waited for the Pyrenees. In the first Pyrenean stage the orders were not to attack, something that for Alberto Contador was incomprehensible given his great facet in the mountain. "I consulted a neutral teammate", he says, and he attacked. He won the stage and recovered all the lost time and a little more.

That ended up detonating all the tension accumulated over months, and in the post-stage meeting the next day both took the floor. Armstrong claimed that Contador had not followed team orders or respected the tactics; Alberto Contador replied: "If you want respect, you are the first one who has to give it. You have lacked it to me since the beginning of the year as to the whole team". At that moment, Armstrong tried to be ironic with an "OK, Pistolero", but when he got off the bus he approached and in a low tone said the words that have already become famous in that interview with the Madrid cyclist: "Don't fuck with me", Armstrong spat at a Contador who did not flinch.

The end of the conflict in 2009 between Contador and Armstrong

But it didn't end there. In fact, it had already started before, when Contador claims that they left his person of trust within the team, Benjamin Noval, something that he tried to overlook to focus on the goal of winning, but that he later analyzed as a destabilization campaign already prior to the 2009 Tour de France.

The other great anecdote that Contador tells is when he had to buy a last generation lenticular wheel from another team in the peloton. With money from his pocket, yes, because the two available in the team were mounted to Armstrong. It was another act of rebellion by Contador that also did not sit well with either Armstrong or Astana.

But from all this you already know how the story ends: Alberto Contador ended up taking that 2009 Tour de France; and years later, Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven victories in the Tour. Poetic justice for some.

The media of the time were already echoing some frictions, some tensions that were officially always softened. Surely that story sounds familiar to you: two roosters and a henhouse.

It is, in fact, the never-ending story that has had its most recent chapter with the new version of the past leadership of Movistar, in its case with three cyclists like Valverde, Landa and Quintana. Just as the Spanish team tried to convey an image of unity, common goal and new team model, the Astana of the time also talked about giving both cyclists the same conditions, without a clear leadership for which the team had to row. And, faced with that dubious attitude, Armstrong was inflexible and hard with Contador.

Now, Alberto Contador's life is much more peaceful. Even he no longer goes out to pedal when it rains, he recently stated.