Cycling: Contador confident Astana would welcome legend

Published on Wednesday 10 September 2008 23:39

SPANISH rider Alberto Contador believes Astana would welcome Lance Armstrong with open arms after the seven-time Tour de France winner announced he is coming out of retirement.

It is not yet known which team Armstrong will join, but Astana are among the favourites with his old Discovery Channel team manager, Johan Bruyneel, currently in charge.

Contador, who moved to Astana last year, would be delighted to have one of cycling's best known figures as his team-mate.

"It's good news for cycling because it will create a lot of interest and at Astana we would be delighted to welcome him with open arms," Contador said, before the 11th stage of the Vuelta a Espana.

"It's news that awakes your attention, but I'm not giving the matter much thought. I'm concentrating on the Vuelta."

Should Armstrong appear in Astana colours, it will increase pressure on Tour de France organisers Amaury Sport Organisation to accept the team for the 2009 race.

Astana, sponsored by the Kazakhstan government, were not invited to compete in this year's Tour following a series of doping incidents in 2007, and Contador, who won the race that year with Discovery Channel, admits that Armstrong's return could pose problems.

"If both of us want to win the Tour then, yes, that creates some complications," he added. "But if that happens, then it would be a race in which you have to take into account different matters. Now is not the time to think about that."

The oldest cyclist to ever win the Tour de France was 36-year-old Firmin Lambot, who achieved the feat in 1922. The Belgian is the only cyclist over the age of 34 to win the event.

Armstrong turns 37 in eight days' time and another Spaniard, Alejandro Valverde, admits he cannot understand why the American has returned to the sport.

"As a cyclist I don't understand it," he said. "But everybody is their own person and can do what they want. It seems surprising to me, after having left cycling and even more so after having won seven Tours, but if he sees himself as fit and hasn't lost his form then he will be welcomed back."

Carlos Sastre, this year's Tour de France winner, was also cautious about welcoming Armstrong, right, back to the sport.

"I imagine that he's studied everything and he will have looked at the pros and cons and decided that he's interested in returning to the Tour," he said.