Let ALBERTO RIDE

“They took a decision that I don’t like and it looks like they’re not going to change their minds,” said Contador, who won the Giro in 1:57 over Riccardo Riccò. “After winning such a hard and demanding Giro, I wouldn’t be able to go to the Tour anyway.”

After a tough Giro win that came through a last minute invite Alberto Contador is basking in the glow of the win.

“It’s never been so worth it to leave a vacation early,” he said. “This is my Tour de France for me this year. I prefer to win this Giro than win a second Tour.”

Perhaps that now Contador does not want to the ride the Tour, the ASO will reconsider their hard-line stance and let them race.

References:
Velonews

(AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

After a last minute invite by the Giro D’Italia Alberto Contador went on to win the race. Alberto was sunning himself on the beach waiting for races later in the season when he received the last minute call up. The Astana team was given a reprieve and allowed to start the Giro. Sensing that this could be their one big chance Astana dispatched their top racers to Italy including the on form Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer.

Contador looked capable during the early tests in the Giro as Italian commentators noted Contadors ease of keeping up with the top contenders. After surviving through the first week, Contador placed well in the flat Time Trials including a brutal uphill TT at the Plan De Corones which included a 24 percent grade climb. Contador went into the final TT with only a four second lead over second place Riccardo Ricco. The final TT solidified the Spaniards win in Italy. Now, will this performance at the Giro give Astana a new hope to ride the Tour de France? It us anyone’s guess.

Alberto Contador is resigning himself to not be a part of the 2008 Tour de France. He is racing in other races on the calendar such as the Tour de Murcia instead of Paris-Nice. His big goal for the year will be the Olympic Road Race in Beijing and any other non ASO race.

“I swear that I don’t think about,” he continued. “To the contrary, I think that the best races are the ones where I am, like now at the Vuelta a Murcia. I imagine the closer I get to the dates, it will be harder, but right now, with the exception of Paris-Nice, which I switched for Murcia, I am going to keep the same objectives.”

Contador does not regret signing with Astana for 2008. At the time no one would have imaginged the revamped team to not get the nod for a Tour invite especially with the defending Tour champ on the roster.

“It doesn’t do any good to keep going over it. I took the decision I had to make and I don’t regret it,” he said. “They were undergoing a new project, I saw that everything was different, including an internal anti-doping system to erase any suspicion. Everything was so serious and so professional that it seemed it was safer to sign with Astana instead of other teams. I cannot regret something I fully considered.”

Velonews

Johan Bruyneel is not surprising upset and critical of the decision by the ASO to exclude Astana from all of its events in 2008.

“I feel unfairly treated,” Bruyneel told The Associated Press by telephone Friday. “I had a long talk with Alberto (Contador) about this. He’s upset, but at the same time he is young and he has already one Tour de France in his pocket, and (one) Paris-Nice.”

The history of Astana sponsored teams int he Tour was not very good, but under the completely different management structure only the sponsor name really remains.

“We don’t part with the winner of the Tour for the fun of it, but (Astana) is the team he chose,” Prudhomme said. “Contador was in no way targeted.”

Full Article at Yahoo! Sports

Velonews has a writeup on the mess that is Paris-Nice. The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and Union Cicliste International (UCI) are playing a tug-of-war with ultimatum and threats of explusions. This year Astana seems to be in the same boat at Unibet.com was in 2007. Now with Paris-Nice the UCI is upping the stakes making it very difficult for teams to decide what to do. Pat McQuaid has been ineffective in working with the ASO choosing to use ultimatum while the ASO simply skirts the rules of the ProTour. Gradually any money that is to be made in the sport will shrivel down making these squabbles seem all the more ridiculous.

Velonews

Levi Leipheimer has a site and a petition to allow him to ride in the Tour de France. Levi placed third, behind his teammate Alberto Contador who is the reigning Tour de France Champion. Since Trek bikes worked to make a nice site and snazzy campaign many in the blogosphere wondered aloud why the actual winner did not have a campaign behind him. A few days ago a new site popped up called Contador Al Tour which is not a very pretty site. So the idea was born. Create a site for Alberto following some of the ideas of Levi’s site. This site will have a little more than a simple petition and t-shirts and hats. What that is I don’t know, but stay tuned.

In the meantime, we hope that the nice French sports organizers at the A.S.O. will reconsider their drastic decision to not allow the reigning champion to defend his title in the Tour de France.