ProTour Racing News: Contador Likely to Remain With Astana

November 20, 2009
Paris, France:

It's official. Sort of. Alberto Contador announced that he will remain with his Astana team ending months of speculation.

Since winning the 2009 Tour de France, Contador's Astana team has been on the brink of collapse. The Belgian/American contingent, formerly led by manager Johan Bruyneel and star cyclist Lance Armstrong, was in disarray after Bruyneel and Armstrong left to form the new Radio Shack team, taking most of the riders and staff of Astana with them.

2009 was a success on the road for Astana, but behind the scenes things weren't so good. The team teetered on bankruptcy throughout the year, and with Bruyneel and Armstrong gone and no infrastructure in place for 2010, Astana's ProTour license was suddenly in question. Contador made it clear that he would prefer to leave as he had tempting offers from the American Garmin-Slipsteam team, the Spainish Caisse d'Epargne team and the Belgian Quickstep outfit.

But the Kazakh government, who ostensibly finance the team, had no desire to relinquish the ProTour license nor their Spanish star. Instead there has been a sort of three-way tug-of-war as the Astana team attempts to satisfy the demands of the International Cycling Union to retain their license while blocking Contador from leaving. The only legal way the Spaniard could break his contract is if the teams ProTour status was revoked.

On Thursday, however, Contador said that he would remain with Astana in 2010. The statement said Alberto Contador and his current team, Astana, have reached a preliminary agreement to fulfill the remainder of the contract that binds them to the end of 2010.

But there were also prerequisites in Contador's statement, primarily that the team maintains their ProTour status, a point that has been understood since the beginning of the debate. The only problem is that the UCI has yet to render its decision. The final deadline for the team to fulfill all of the demands set forth is today November 20.

That is simply the deadline, UCI press chief Enrico Carpani told Bicycling. The final verdict will not be rendered most likely until sometime next week.

So while Contador's official statement on his intention to remain with the team will certainly add weight to the Astana team file, it is by no means the final word. Indeed, the Astana package appears significantly stronger than it did just months ago. In an effort to solidify their staff Astana also hired Frenchman Yvon Sanquier as general manager and Italian Guiseppe Martinelli as director.

And it increasingly appears that Astana will retain its ProTour license. But to date nothing has been signed or announced officially. But it does appear increasingly likely that Alberto Contador will remain with the Astana team in 2010. Sort of!