Contador: "I want to ride the Tour, but not at all costs"

Alberto Contador weighs in officially at 62.5 kg. But if people could measure their indignation in grams, the winner of the last Tour de France would weigh perhaps twice as much.

And so the cyclist from Pinto continues to be dumbfounded by the decision of the Tour de France organizers (ASO) to exclude Astana from the next Tour.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all. It’s a leap backward for cycling."

"We deserve to be in the Tour. We’re a clean team and one of the most competitive in the world, but the chances are almost nil. Therefore we don’t have any other remedy left but to set new goals, like the Vuelta a España and the world championships,” Contador said.

The subject is even more regrettable because the Madrileño thought long and hard about joining Astana after the sponsor of his previous team, Discovery Channel, left cycling. It’s a fact that the Kazakh-sponsored team was ejected from the 2007 Tour as a result of several doping scandals, the most notorious being that of Alexander Vinokourov.

But then, everything changed.

To read the full interview click on the title link.