Misplaced Pages

#722277

137-514: With a lineup including Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador , as well as runner-up Andreas Klöden the results were good, but the team was on the verge of financial collapse in May 2009. A battle for control of the team led to the return of Vinokourov for the 2009 Vuelta a España and caused Bruyneel and at least fourteen of its riders to leave at the end of the 2009 season, most for Team RadioShack . Only four Spanish riders, including Contador, and most of

274-609: A Castilla y León that required surgical repair. However, Armstrong was able to recover in time to ride in the 2009 Giro d'Italia . On 6 May 2009, Astana admitted that it had failed to pay its riders amid the financial crisis in Kazakhstan, but a team spokesman said that this was only a delay, that the team was not in danger of folding, and that the team would compete in the 2009 Giro d'Italia as planned. On 7 May Armstrong, riding for Astana on an unpaid basis, expressed his sympathy for employees waiting for their wages only days before

411-762: A Castilla y León , as well as the Tour of the Basque Country by winning the opening stage and the final individual time trial. His next scheduled race and objective was the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré but his team received an invite to the Giro d'Italia one week prior to the start of the race. Contador was on a beach in Spain when he was told he was going to ride the Giro. Despite the lack of preparation, he finished second in

548-721: A España. Following his return from suspension, he won the Vuelta twice and the Giro once more. On the penultimate day of his career, he won a stage victory at the mountaintop finish of the Alto de l'Angliru . Contador was born on 6 December 1982 in Pinto in the Community of Madrid , the third of four children. He has an older brother and sister and a younger brother, who has cerebral palsy . Having previously taken part in other sports, such as football and athletics, Contador discovered cycling at

685-461: A climb and shedding the pure sprinters off the leading group. At the end of March, Contador took fourth place in the Volta a Catalunya , where he crashed severely in the penultimate stage. Contador was able to remount and participate in the last stage, securing his general classification placing. At the end of April, and days before the start of the Giro d'Italia, Contador revealed that he was ready for

822-480: A contract extension with his team, Tinkoff , but at the same time announced that 2016 would be his final season in professional cycling. He competed in his first race of the season at the Volta ao Algarve , finishing third overall and winning the final stage of the race. He went on to claim runner-up finishes in Paris–Nice , where he attacked race leader Geraint Thomas from 50 kilometres (31 miles) out and again on

959-411: A fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home. Contador turned professional in 2003 for ONCE–Eroski . In his first year as a professional he won the eighth stage of the Tour de Pologne , an individual time trial. He deliberately let himself fall back on the morning's road stage and saved energy to deliver the winning effort in the time trial in the afternoon. During

1096-568: A final acceleration near the finish line as he took 3 seconds back on Nibali. On the descent of the Petit Ballon in the tenth stage, Contador crashed heavily before he was treated on the side of the road. He tried to ride for nearly 20 kilometres (12 miles) after the crash but he eventually abandoned the Tour. He initially ruled himself out of the Vuelta a España as well but he eventually joined

1233-488: A finishing kick with around 800 metres (2,600 feet) to go, winning the stage and strengthening his hold on the red jersey. The same thing happened on the penultimate stage to Puerto de Ancares where he followed Froome throughout the climb, distancing the other contenders once again before kicking on to take the stage, all but securing the red jersey. On the final stage individual time trial, he rode conservatively in wet conditions to avoid any mishaps and though he lost time to

1370-481: A great Tour[, but] on a personal level [..] I have never admired him and never will", and Armstrong responding that "a champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents." The sniping caused others, such as the director of the Tour, to wonder "what it would have been like to have had Contador and Armstrong in different teams." Contador later described the experience as "psychologically tough", likening it to having to compete in two races – one on

1507-401: A large difference in the remainder of the race, for now the onus was on Schleck to attack Contador, and not the other way around. Jered Gruber, writing for VeloNation , argued that Contador was right to attack, defending him on the basis that Schleck did not wait for Contador when he was delayed behind a crash on the cobblestones in stage 3 and lost 1' 13" to Schleck, a crash that cost Schleck

SECTION 10

#1732787212723

1644-468: A positive doping test for Clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France . After a two-year legal procedure, Contador is stripped of his 2010 Tour de France win (and 2011 Giro d'Italia victory). In 2011, Roman Kreuziger finished 5th at the Giro d'Italia as well as winning the best young rider classification. In 2014, the UCI began proceedings against him for biological passport anomalies dated from 2011 and 2012 –

1781-664: A positive result for blood doping (blood transfusion). As a result, ASO (the organisers of the Tour de France ) "invited" Team Astana's management to withdraw the entire team from the Tour de France; this invitation was immediately accepted. Following confirmation that Vinokourov's B-sample had also tested positive, the Astana Team announced that he had been sacked with immediate effect. On 1 August 2007, fellow Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin tested positive for homologous blood doping following an out-of-competition test in Belek , Turkey. He

1918-658: A sample taken at the Tour de l'Avenir in August from Ilya Davidenok, a rider with the Astana Continental Team and a stagiaire with the Astana Pro Team, tested positive for anabolic steroids. Davidenok was provisionally suspended, and a review into the team's licence was announced following the positive tests for Davidenok and the Iglinskiy brothers. On February 27, 2015, cycling's governing body,

2055-410: A scar that runs from one ear to the other over the top of his head. Contador started to train again at the end of November 2004 and eight months after the surgery he won the fifth stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under racing for Liberty Seguros–Würth , as the team previously known as ONCE had become. He subsequently described this win as the greatest of his career. He went on to win the third stage and

2192-514: A single-day race, and he dedicated the event to the memory of Víctor Cabedo , a young professional cyclist who died in a training accident a week prior. In 2013, Contador's only victory was a stage in the Tour de San Luis in January. From then on, his season did not go as expected: though finishing 3rd in Tirreno–Adriatico he became ill during the race. This disrupted his preparations for

2329-523: A skirmish related to the underlying issue: control of the Astana team after the expiration of the two-year doping suspension of Alexander Vinokourov on 24 July 2009. On 2 July, Vinokourov stated that he would return to Astana, which he noted was "created for me and thanks to my efforts", when his suspension ended, and that he would ride for Astana in the 2009 Vuelta a España . He stated that he expected to reach an agreement with Bruyneel about his return within

2466-596: A strong performance of the opening time trial and stayed in touch with race leader Cadel Evans on the longer time trial. However, the strong ride of compatriot Alejandro Valverde up Mont Ventoux distanced Contador and he rode to help Valverde take the Yellow Jersey while finishing comfortably in third place overall. On 26 June, Contador competed in the Spanish National Time Trial Championships . He stated that he entered

2603-681: A surprise control in Charleroi and later analysis of his B-sample. Eddy Mazzoleni left the team later in July after allegations of doping usage. Mazzoleni, who had finished 3rd in the 2007 Giro d'Italia , was later suspended for two years for his alleged involvement in the Oil for Drugs doping case. On the eve of the 2007 Tour de France , Alexander Vinokourov confirmed he had received coaching from controversial doctor Michele Ferrari . The next positive doping result came from team-leader Vinokourov, after

2740-411: A two-year contract with Saxo Bank–SunGard for the 2011 season, to ride under team manager Bjarne Riis , who revealed that he would like Contador to try winning all three Grand Tours in one season, a feat never before accomplished. Contador's agent and brother Fran later countered the statement by saying it was "nothing but a dream". Within two weeks, three of Contador's Spanish teammates signed to make

2877-507: A year later, the Court of Arbitration in Sport ruled that Bruyneel's company, Olympus sarl, which held the rider contracts, had violated Swiss employment contract law by firing Gusev on the suspicion of doping without prior implementation of the special procedure provided under terms of the contract. The company was ordered to pay Gusev back wages, damages and legal costs. On 25 September 2008, it

SECTION 20

#1732787212723

3014-454: Is a Russian former professional road racing cyclist , who rode professionally between 2004 and 2015 for the Team CSC , Discovery Channel , Astana , Team Katusha and Skydive Dubai–Al Ahli teams. At the 2006 Paris–Roubaix , Gusev finished fourth but was later one of three riders disqualified by the race jury for illegally riding through a closed level-crossing. On 25 July 2008, Gusev

3151-414: Is a Spanish former professional cyclist . He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007 , 2009 ), the Giro d'Italia twice ( 2008 , 2015 ), and the Vuelta a España three times ( 2008 , 2012 , 2014 ). He is one of only six riders to have won all three Grand Tours of cycling, and one of only two riders to have won all three more than once. He has also won

3288-466: The 2014 UCI World Tour overall classification, as he decided to forego the Tour of Beijing to better prepare for the 2015 season. For 2015, Contador announced that he would attempt to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France , a feat that had not been done since Marco Pantani accomplished it in 1998. His debut race was the Vuelta an Andalucía in February. He took the race lead after

3425-607: The Astana team for 2008. On 13 February 2008, the organiser of the Tour de France, the Amaury Sport Organisation , announced that Astana would not be invited to any of their events in 2008 due to the doping previously perpetrated by Astana, despite the fact that its management and most of its ridership had changed before the 2008 season. Consequently, Contador was unable to defend his Paris–Nice and Tour de France victories. He went on to win his second Vuelta

3562-502: The Mortirolo Pass and put another two minutes into his rival as Mikel Landa became the second-placed rider on the general classification. On Stage 20, Contador lost some time to both Landa and Aru but retained his pink jersey. Eventually, he won the overall classification by 1:53 over Aru. Despite being stripped of his 2011 title for a doping suspension, Contador insisted that this was his third Giro victory, therefore including

3699-476: The Operación Puerto doping case , Contador was without a professional contract until mid-January 2007, when he signed with Discovery Channel . Contador's first major professional victory came with Paris–Nice , which he won on the race's final stage. Discovery Channel effectively wore down the remnants of the race leader Davide Rebellin 's Gerolsteiner team, allowing Contador to launch an attack on

3836-439: The Vuelta a España as the main candidate to win. His biggest challenger was likely to be compatriot Carlos Sastre , who had won the Tour de France just a month before. Contador won stage 13 by attacking on the fabled Angliru climb and this resulted in him capturing the golden jersey as the leader of the race. He extended his lead by winning stage 14 to Fuentes de Invierno and maintained his lead in subsequent flat stages and

3973-542: The Vuelta a España . During the 2016 Tour de France it was reported that Contador would race for Trek–Segafredo for the 2017 season, with the deal being confirmed by the team in September, along with the transfer of teammate Jesús Hernández and Tinkoff directeur sportif Steven de Jongh . This would be his final season as a professional cyclist. Vladimir Gusev (cyclist) Vladimir Nikolayevich Gusev ( Russian : Владимир Николаевич Гусев , born 4 July 1982)

4110-414: The Vuelta a España . Contador attacked numerous times throughout the mountains in the first sixteen stages of the race, but with no avail, since the race leader Joaquim Rodríguez always countered and finished ahead of him. This proved costly since there were bonus seconds awarded to the first three riders of each stage: twelve seconds for first, eight seconds for second and four seconds for third. Even on

4247-624: The Vélo d'Or a record 4 times. He was regarded as the natural successor of Lance Armstrong and won the 2007 Tour de France with the Discovery Channel team. During his time at the Astana team, he won the 2008 Giro d'Italia , the 2008 Vuelta a España and the 2009 Tour de France . Between 2007 and 2011 he won six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered. This included winning the 2010 Tour de France with Astana, although it later emerged that he had tested positive for clenbuterol during

Astana Qazaqstan Team - Misplaced Pages Continue

4384-511: The queen stage of the race, finishing atop the Cuitu Negru and featuring slopes with a gradient of more than 20% close to the line, Rodríguez annulled the numerous attacks of Contador and sailed past him to the finish. However, his fortunes turned around during the seventeenth stage ; he attacked in that latter portion of the stage and made a solo effort up the final climb of the day after his breakaway companion Paolo Tiralongo of Astana

4521-410: The 12.7-kilometre (7.9-mile) mountain time-trial to Nevegal. On 29 May, Contador went on to win the race for the second time finishing 6 minutes ahead of second place Scarponi. In addition to winning the general classification, Contador also won the points classification and finished second in the mountains classification . This made the sixth consecutive grand tour that he entered and won. Despite

4658-510: The 2009 season. Contador later claimed the situation was drastically overblown by the media. Contador decided to miss the Giro d'Italia to focus on winning the Tour de France. Contador started his 2009 season at the Volta ao Algarve race in Portugal, winning the overall classification, placing second on stage 3, and winning the decisive 33-kilometre (21-mile) individual time trial. He was in position to win Paris–Nice again after winning

4795-490: The 2011 race in his count. With his second official Giro title, along with two official Tour de France titles and three Vuelta a España overall wins, Contador joined Bernard Hinault as the only cyclists to have achieved multiple victories at each of the Grand Tours. In preparation for the Tour, Contador chose to ride the four-day Route du Sud , where he won the queen stage and the overall classification. His main rival

4932-570: The 2015 season. On August 20, the team announced the signing of Rein Taaramäe ( Cofidis ) on a one-year deal. With the addition of Michele Scarponi in 2014 and Dario Cataldo in 2015, the team had a plurality Italian element at the beginning of the 2015 season , with 9 riders out of 25 and only 5 Kazakh riders remaining. The team recorded its first doping positive in April 2007, when Matthias Kessler tested positive for testosterone following

5069-491: The Giro and winning it was a really big achievement, bigger than if I'd had a second victory in the Tour de France". At the 2008 Summer Olympics , Contador competed in the road race and the individual road time trial . He did not finish in the road race, in which 53 of the 143 starters did not complete the course in particularly hot and humid conditions. He placed fourth in the individual time trial, eight seconds behind his regular teammate Leipheimer. Contador entered

5206-414: The Giro d'Italia, Contador's Tinkoff–Saxo team performed well in the opening team time trial , finishing 2nd to Orica–GreenEDGE . He gained 6 seconds on Fabio Aru , 12 seconds on Rigoberto Urán , and 20 seconds on Richie Porte . Contador took the maglia rosa on the summit finish on stage 5 to Abetone. However, the next day, Contador dislocated his shoulder after crashing on the finishing straight. He

5343-520: The Giro-Tour double and now I know. I don't think it's impossible to do the double but it's really complicated because nobody has the experience on how to prepare it. However, I prefer having tried than being left with a desire to do it". After the Tour, Contador planned on racing the Clásica de San Sebastián but had to cancel due to sickness, ending his 2015 season. In March 2015, Contador signed

5480-602: The Grand Tour race. His injuries sustained in the Volta a Catalunya were healed and included a micro-fissure in his sacrum. He stated: "I'm going very well, the big blocks of training here in the Canaries are all but finished and I'm now beginning to go through the recovery phase prior to the Giro. I've done a huge amount of climbing rides in these last three weeks and now what we've got to do is ease back before next week." At

5617-491: The Kazakh federation as saying, "[Contador] will be our sole leader for years to come [and] will be able to pick out the riders he wants to ride with him. In our mind, the team will be composed of Spanish and Kazakh riders, including Alexander Vinokourov." On 21 July, with Contador, Armstrong and Klöden holding three of the top four places in the Tour de France, Bruyneel told Belgian channel VRT that Astana as currently constituted

Astana Qazaqstan Team - Misplaced Pages Continue

5754-673: The Kazakhs (except Muravyev). The team signed three more Spanish riders, including 2006 Tour champion Óscar Pereiro , to support Contador. Consistent with the July 2009 plan, the 2010 team included 12 Kazakhs and 7 Spaniards among its 26 riders. When Contador left the team after the 2010 season, the Spanish faction of the team declined, to be replaced by an Italian element; in 2011 and 2012, the team signed Enrico Gasparotto , Mirco Lorenzetto , Francesco Masciarelli , Jacopo Guarnieri , Francesco Gavazzi , Simone Ponzi , and Fabio Aru , while in

5891-422: The Kazakhs remained with the rebuilt team for 2010. Those four Spaniards all left the team for Saxo Bank–SunGard in 2011. Astana first became involved in sponsoring cycling during the 2006 season. The Spanish Liberty Seguros–Würth team was heavily implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case and the sponsors Liberty Mutual , and later Würth, withdrew their sponsorship of the team. Astana stepped in to sponsor

6028-501: The Kazakhs won their national championships. Astana's strict anti-doping policy came to the forefront later in the year. On 28 July Astana fired Vladimir Gusev for showing "abnormal values" in an internal doping check. In a statement, Bruyneel said that while the results "do not indicate the use of banned substances, the team has therefore applied the contractual terms based on these physiological and biological abnormalities", and fired Gusev "with immediate effect." On 17 June 2009, almost

6165-426: The Kazakhstan owners of the team on one side and Bruyneel on the other, and he was hoping to leave Astana at the end of the year, although his contract did not expire until the end of 2010. However, on 11 August, Contador's teammate and close friend Sérgio Paulinho accepted a two-year contract with Team RadioShack , indicating that Contador might not be able to leave Astana as readily as he and his agent wished. This

6302-425: The Spanish amateur cycling calendar. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 without having finished his Bachillerato and signed with Iberdrola–Loinaz, a youth team run by Manolo Saiz , manager of the professional ONCE–Deutsche Bank team. In 2001, he won the under-23 race at the Spanish National Time Trial Championships . Contador lives with his wife Macarena in the city of Pinto when not competing. He has

6439-545: The Tour after a four-year absence. Contador had won the last four Grand Tour races that he had entered. During the celebration at the podium, the organisers of the Tour wrongly played the Danish national anthem instead of the Spanish Royal March . In the aftermath of the tour, Contador and Armstrong engaged in a war of words, with Contador quoted as saying that, although Armstrong "is a great rider and [..] did

6576-484: The Tour de France, Contador entered the race in much better form. He avoided crashing during the first week but he lost a lot of time in the fifth stage of the race, the stage featuring cobbles as part of the route. He lost around 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 minutes to fellow overall contender, Nibali, as he was unable to bridge the gap to him after mud became stuck in his gears. On the Tour's first summit finish going to Gérardmer , he attacked as Nibali went with him. Contador made

6713-515: The Tour. Contador started the Dauphiné on good form, finishing second to Froome on the race's short individual time trial before dueling with Froome on the Col du Béal . Unlike in 2013 where he was unable to follow the accelerations of Froome, Contador was able to stay on his rival's wheel, eventually finishing second on the stage after Froome outsprinted him to the line. He had his next duel with Froome on

6850-656: The UCI License Commission relented and awarded Astana Team a 4-year ProTour license. Other prominent new riders for the 2007 season included stage race specialists Andreas Klöden , Paolo Savoldelli and Andrey Kashechkin , as well as Matthias Kessler , Grégory Rast , Thomas Frei and Spanish climber Antonio Colom . Riding under a Luxembourgian license, the team also included other ex-Discovery Channel riders such as Tomas Vaitkus , Sérgio Paulinho , Chechu Rubiera , Vladimir Gusev and Janez Brajkovič , as well as American Chris Horner . The Astana team

6987-602: The UCI, requested that the team's WorldTour licence be withdrawn following an audit of its doping controls by the Institute of Sport Sciences in Lausanne. The UCI stated that the audit revealed a large difference between the team policies presented to the Licence Commission and reality. On 23 April 2015, it was finally announced by the UCI that Astana would keep their license but would be under more scrutiny. For

SECTION 50

#1732787212723

7124-604: The age of 14 thanks to his elder brother Francisco Javier. When Contador was 15, he began to compete in races at the amateur level in Spain, joining the Real Velo Club Portillo from Madrid. Although he got no victories that year or the next, he demonstrated great qualities and was soon nicknamed Pantani (after Marco Pantani , regarded as one of the best climbers of all time) for his climbing skills. In 2000, he experienced his first victories, winning several mountains classification prizes from prominent events on

7261-475: The aid of his best ally in the tour, his brother Fränk Schleck . But of course that was early in the race and neither rider had the yellow jersey at the time. Race commentator Paul Sherwen thought the attack in poor form, whereas his co-commenter Phil Liggett thought not. Schleck said he considered Contador's actions to be unsporting. Hours after the conclusion of the stage, Contador voiced an apology for his behaviour on his YouTube channel. Five days later in

7398-430: The breakaway including Andrew Talansky , who was sitting in third place overall, 39 seconds behind Contador. Contador was left isolated with no teammates around him as he tried to bridge the gap to the leading group but he ran out of steam as Talansky won the race overall. However, Contador dealt a psychological blow to Froome ahead of the Tour as Froome struggled in the stage, eventually dropping to 12th place overall. In

7535-413: The clenbuterol case. He finished second overall in the Tour de San Luis and he won both uphill finishes, only falling short in the time trial stage of the race. On 6 February he was stripped of these early results, as well the 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia wins and many other victories. He was also suspended until 5 August and his contract with Team Saxo Bank was annulled. On 8 June it

7672-485: The end of the race. He also won the individual time trial of Vuelta a Castilla y León . Contador competed in the Giro d'Italia , his first time racing in the Giro since his victory in 2008 . Contador won the ninth stage on Mount Etna , his first stage win at the Italian Grand Tour. He attacked midway through the climb, dropping his overall rivals and gaining almost a minute on them. That stage gave him

7809-480: The fact that he was scheduled to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in early August, Contador announced in early June he would compete in the Tour de France . The CAS had planned to hear the case in early June but the dates were pushed back to early August. Contador aimed to become the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani accomplished

7946-468: The feat in 1998. In the opening stage Contador was slowed by a crash and lost more than one minute. He lost additional time in the team time trial at Les Essarts but finished second in the fourth stage up to Mûr-de-Bretagne . Contador suffered four crashes in the opening nine days of the Tour, injuring his right knee before facing the Pyrenees mountain stages. He was dropped in the final kilometre in

8083-415: The final climb of Col d'Èze before Thomas closed the gap on the final descent to the finish line, and the Volta a Catalunya , before taking the general classification and the stage six time trial at the Tour of the Basque Country , subsequently stating to the press that he would postpone his retirement for at least another year. Contador got off to a difficult start to the Tour de France , crashing in

8220-431: The final climb. With Rebellin leading the chase, Contador held off his competitors in the final kilometres, winning him the race. In the Tour de France , he won a stage at the mountaintop finish of Plateau de Beille , and was second in the general classification to Michael Rasmussen . Upon Rasmussen's removal from the race before stage 17 for lying to his team about his pre-race training whereabouts, Contador assumed

8357-407: The final stage is traditionally non-competitive save for a bunched sprint to the finish line) and it secured Contador his first Tour de France victory. It is the closest the top three finishers in the Tour de France have ever finished to one another. After Discovery Channel announced 2007 would be its final season in professional cycling, Contador announced on 23 October 2007 that he would move to

SECTION 60

#1732787212723

8494-535: The final time trial, won by Leipheimer by a wide margin. Contador later took some offence to Leipheimer seemingly riding with winning the Vuelta in mind, after it had been established earlier in the race that Contador was Astana's team leader. In the final standings, Contador finished 46 seconds ahead of Leipheimer and more than four minutes ahead of Sastre. The win made him the fifth cyclist, at that point, to win all three Grand Tours, after Jacques Anquetil , Felice Gimondi , Eddy Merckx , and Bernard Hinault . In

8631-462: The first individual time trial and took the pink jersey after the 15th stage up to Passo Fedaia. Upon winning the final pink jersey in Milan, he became the first non-Italian to win the Giro d'Italia since Pavel Tonkov in 1996 and also the second Spanish rider to win the Giro after Miguel Induráin won in 1992 and 1993 . He later emphasized the importance of this win by saying that "taking part in

8768-401: The first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias he started to feel unwell, and after 40 kilometres (25 miles) he fell and went into convulsions. He had been suffering from headaches for several days beforehand and was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma , a congenital vascular disorder, for which he underwent risky surgery and a recovery to get back on his bike. As a result of the surgery, he has

8905-594: The first time in its history, the team took on a co-title sponsor, as Canadian tech company Premier Tech joined for the 2021 season. However, mid-season disagreements between it and the team's Kazakh shareholders resulted in the collaboration being cut short after one season, and the team rebranded to better demonstrate its Kazakh background. Former riders: list of riders Alberto Contador Stage races One-day races and Classics Other Alberto Contador Velasco ( Spanish pronunciation: [alˈβeɾto kontaˈðoɾ βeˈlasko] ; born 6 December 1982)

9042-422: The former Liberty Seguros team in 2004 when Alberto Contador was one of the riders there, and Basque rider Haimar Zubeldia . Contador expressed his support for the return of Vinokourov from his two-year doping suspension but seemed less enthusiastic about Armstrong's return. Armstrong was part of the team that participated in the season's first ProTour race, the 2009 Tour Down Under . The team's first victory of

9179-422: The gap. By stage's end, he had lost the yellow jersey and 39 seconds to Contador. Contador, who now had an eight-second lead in the race, met with a mixed reception as he received the yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the stage. It is an unusual occurrence in the Tour for the new race leader to be met with whistles and cat calls as he is given the yellow jersey. The yellow jersey changing shoulders made

9316-421: The last 2 mountain stages. Contador finished the Tour de France in fifth place, 9' 48" down on winner Froome. Though he failed to achieve the double in the end, Contador had no regrets over his attempt. "It's true that there are riders that would dream of finishing fifth. For me that was not my objective but I'm glad that I tried. If I hadn't tried then after my career I might have wondered whether I could have done

9453-449: The last day of the Giro. If the team had not met its financial obligations by that date, it would be suspended by the UCI. Bruyneel noted that at least the team would be able to finish the Giro under its current banner. During stage 7 of the Giro, eight of the nine Astana riders, including Armstrong, rode in jerseys with the non-paying sponsors' names nearly faded out in protest over the team's unpaid salaries and remained in such jerseys for

9590-626: The lead of the race. On the next day, Contador crossed the finish line in Madrid with the race leader's red jersey, earning the second Vuelta victory of his career. Contador participated in the UCI Road World Championships held in Valkenburg in both the road race and the individual time trial. He was ninth in the time trial, after being overtaken by eventual winner Tony Martin , who started two minutes behind him. For

9727-567: The leader's jersey more than any other Italian in the history of the Vuelta (13 stages out of 21), but lost first place to American Chris Horner ( RadioShack-Nissan ). In 2014, Vincenzo Nibali won the Tour de France and became the sixth cyclist who have won the three Grand Tours. In August the team announced they had signed Lars Boom ( Belkin Pro Cycling ), Luis León Sánchez ( Caja Rural–Seguros RGA ), Davide Malacarne ( Team Europcar ) & Diego Rosa ( Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela ) for

9864-411: The mandate to start afresh with the team, so he hired a number of former Discovery riders including 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (who had ridden with Vinokourov on the old Liberty Seguros team) and third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer . Bruyneel introduced the anti-doping system developed by Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard , Head of Information for Anti Doping Danmark (ADD). The anti-doping system

10001-575: The new team was based in Switzerland under the holding company of Zeus Sarl and managed by former Tour de Suisse organiser Marc Biver . Vinokourov was the team's debut leader. The UCI ProTour license commission first informed Astana that they would not be granted a ProTour License for the 2007 season. Following UCI's decision not to grant a ProTour license, the organizers of the three Grand Tours informed Astana Team that they would be included, regardless of ProTour license status. On 20 December 2006

10138-595: The next mountain stage to Valdelinares , attacking with around 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) to go while dropping Froome and Valverde among others as he sat 3 seconds behind red jersey holder Quintana before the individual time trial. He took the red jersey on the individual time trial as he finished fourth. He showed he could defend the red jersey by staying with his fellow overall contenders. On the race's queen stage to La Farrapona , he followed Froome's attack with 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) to go while distancing other overall contenders. He stayed in his rival's wheel before putting on

10275-424: The next stage to Pinerolo but unable to win time to the other favourites besides Thomas Voeckler and Ivan Basso . In the stage to the Col du Galibier he lost time to the other favourites after Schleck launched a solo attack 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the finish and Contador was later unable to follow the pace set by Evans. Contador launched an early attack on the last mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez , reaching

10412-463: The next two Pyrenean stages staying in contact with his big rivals where he also remained 6th overall. His chances faded after he crashed on the descent of the Colle d'Allos on stage 17. Despite a hard effort on the finishing climb after, he lost over 2 minutes to Froome and Quintana. He was unable to recover from his crash on stage 17 and his efforts in the Giro which made him unable to match his rivals on

10549-408: The nose cone of time trial bikes, Contador did not use his Shiv time trial bike, and instead used the standard red Specialized time trial bike. On 14 March, Contador won his second Paris–Nice , finishing ahead of other pre-race favorites like Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez . His main attack came in the hilltop finish to Mende, where he crossed the finish line alone and successfully secured

10686-508: The opening stages and losing time to his rivals. He was in 20th place on the general classification with a deficit of 3 minutes 12 seconds to leader Chris Froome before the ninth stage, where after attempting to make the breakaway at the start of the day, he withdrew from the race, citing a fever which had developed overnight. In August, Contador won the overall classification of the Vuelta a Burgos , beating both Ben Hermans and Sergio Pardilla by just one second. He went on to finish fourth at

10823-459: The other favourites, he had more than enough time in hand to win his third Vuelta. During the Vuelta, Contador announced he would not contest the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada , saying the course did not fit his characteristics at all. Contador suffered a crash in the Giro di Lombardia , injuring the knee that he had hurt in the Tour de France and ending his chances of winning

10960-399: The other results achieved by the team were victories in several stage races: by Contador in the Vuelta al País Vasco and the Vuelta a Castilla y León , by Leipheimer in the Tour of California , by Klöden in the Tour de Romandie and by Russian Sergei Ivanov in the Tour de Wallonie . Various team members also achieved several other top-tier results, and Ivanov, Paulinho, Vaikus and two of

11097-492: The overall classification of the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme , thus winning his first stage race as a professional. He also won an individual time trial during the Tour of the Basque Country , where he finished third, and the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie , where he finished fourth overall. In 2006, he won stages at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse in preparation for the Tour de France . Prior to

11234-407: The overall lead and the yellow jersey, though he did not don it until after the stage. In the stage 19 individual time trial, he managed to defy expectations and keep hold of the yellow jersey by a margin of only 23 seconds over challenger Cadel Evans and 31 seconds over teammate Levi Leipheimer . As this was the Tour's penultimate stage, it was the last real competition of the race (since

11371-602: The overall lead in the Giro, as well as the points classification lead. Contador extended his overall lead to 3 minutes over second place Vincenzo Nibali where he broke away with José Rujano on the Grossglockner. He solidified his lead through stage 14 up the Monte Zoncolan and a very difficult stage 15 through the Dolomites taking his lead up to 4 minutes ahead of second place Michele Scarponi . He also won

11508-418: The overall victory. Contador also won the 2008 Vuelta a España , with teammate Levi Leipheimer finishing a close second. Thus, despite not competing in the Tour de France due to doping by Vinokourov and others in 2007, Astana still won two Grand Tours in 2008 and achieved three podiums. Leipheimer also won a bronze medal in the time trial in the 2008 Olympics, just edging Contador, who finished fourth. Among

11645-484: The pink jersey, the first time he lost the leader's jersey in any Grand Tour up to that point in his career. However the next day, on a 59.3-kilometre (36.8-mile) individual time trial, Contador led the field, taking back the pink jersey and created a sizable time difference over the rest of the peloton. On stage 16, Contador suffered a mechanical problem on the descent of Apria and other teams including Astana tried to take advantage. Still, Contador made contact with Aru at

11782-419: The possibility of leaving the team if he was given a secondary role supporting Armstrong but Bruneel said in no uncertain terms that he would hold Contador to the terms of his contract but he also said "Alberto has had a magnificent year and is currently the best professional cyclist in the world", Contador was later given assurances by Bruyneel that he would remain team leader and decided to remain at Astana for

11919-405: The process he also became the first Spaniard, youngest (age 25), and shortest amount of time to accumulate all three wins (15 months). He also became only the third cyclist to win the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year, joining Merckx (who did it in 1973) and Giovanni Battaglin (who did it in 1981). Later in the year, Contador won the Vélo d'Or award for the best rider of the year for

12056-424: The prologue and the toughest mountain stage, but suffered a breakdown in stage 7, losing his yellow jersey to fellow Spaniard Luis León Sánchez . Contador and his Astana team later blamed the breakdown on Contador eating inadequately, leaving him without the energy to chase attacks. Contador finished fourth overall; he continued his build up to the Tour de France by racing the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré . He put in

12193-428: The race in order to gain more experience on his new Trek time trial bike, but he came away with a convincing victory over Sánchez, the defending champion, winning by 37 seconds. This was his first national championship as a professional. Contador won Stage 15 of the Tour de France by soloing to the finish line more than a minute ahead of most of his closest general classification competitors, and in so doing took

12330-437: The race, taking third in the second stage and fourth in the third stage individual time trial before taking his first win of the season on the fourth stage. In the stage featuring a summit finish at Alto do Malhão, Contador attacked a kilometre from the finish as he eventually soloed to the stage win, three seconds ahead of Rui Costa . He eventually finished second overall, 19 seconds down on Kwiatkowski. Contador's next race

12467-461: The race. After a long battle in court, he was suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and stripped of his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro wins. Contador was known as an attacking rider who excelled as a climber, and on his best days was also an excellent time-trialist. He was also known for being able to turn races around to his favour, most notably during the Fuente Dé stage at the 2012 Vuelta

12604-408: The rest of the Giro. The only rider not to participate was Andrey Zeits from Kazakhstan. According to Bruyneel, the names of paying sponsors, such as Trek and KazMunayGas , were not blanked out, and the team would continue to "race with these shirts until everything, emphasis on everything, is fixed", as "the riders have only received two months of salary in 2009." On 19 May, Bruyneel announced that

12741-408: The rest of the season. Contador returned to racing in the Tour of the Basque Country in April and finished fifth in the general classification. He was too late to be in optimal condition for the Tour de France , where he could not match up to Chris Froome and finished in fourth place. After the Tour, main sponsor Oleg Tinkov expressed critical comments on Contador's style of riding. At the end of

12878-462: The rest of the team departed for RadioShack, including Armstrong, Klöden, Leipheimer, Zubeldia, Horner, Brajkovič, Popovych, Paulinho, Vaitkus, Rast, Rubiera and Muravyev (the only Kazakh to depart), which meant that eight of the nine members of the winning Astana team at the 2009 Tour de France moved to RadioShack. Schär and Morabito joined CCC Pro Team . All that remained of Astana was four Spanish riders (Contador, Noval, Navarro and Hernández) and

13015-420: The road race, Contador rode in support of his Spanish teammates and finished 53 seconds in arrears of the victor, Belgian Philippe Gilbert . Days later, Contador headed for Italy to take part in the newly resurrected Classic Milano–Torino . He took the win by accelerating on the final slope of the day in sight of the final kilometre banner, dropping all contenders. It was the first time in his career that he won

13152-433: The road, the other in the team hotel. Armstrong's control of the team during the race extended to its entire fleet of team cars, forcing Contador to rely on his brother to take him from stage finishes to the hotel. On 31 July, Contador's agent (who is also his brother) announced that Contador had turned down an offer to remain with Astana under a new four-year contract because he had felt so uncomfortable being caught between

13289-423: The same period of time David de la Fuente , Daniel Navarro , Jesús Hernández , Benjamín Noval , Óscar Pereiro , and Josep Jufré resigned, so that by the beginning of the 2012 season there were no Spanish riders of the team. In 2013, the team signed Valerio Agnoli , Andrea Guardini , Alessandro Vanotti , and Vincenzo Nibali , who immediately won Tirreno–Adriatico and the Giro d'Italia . Then Nibali wore

13426-424: The same transfer: Jesús Hernández , Daniel Navarro and Benjamín Noval . Amidst the clenbuterol controversy, Contador earned his first win in the Vuelta a Murcia . He won the overall classification as well as two stage victories en route to his victory. Later in the month of March, Contador entered in the Volta a Catalunya , where he claimed a win on the third stage to Vallnord , maintaining his advantage until

13563-402: The season was the 6th stage, followed by the general classification, of the Tour of California by Levi Leipheimer . In the same week, Alberto Contador won a stage and the classification of the Volta ao Algarve , and subsequently two stages in the Paris–Nice race. Armstrong's participation in the Tour was cast into doubt in late March, after he suffered a broken collarbone in the Vuelta

13700-435: The season, Tinkov bought the team ownership, but Contador stayed loyal to the team. After a disappointing 2013 season, Contador went into the season trying to find the form that allowed him to take numerous victories in the past. Contador's first objective of the season was the Volta ao Algarve . Although he would lose time to Michał Kwiatkowski after his two consecutive stage wins, Contador showed his much improving form in

13837-523: The second consecutive season. The Giro and Vuelta winner beat Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara and Sastre in a vote by international cycling writers. On 9 September 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that he was returning to professional cycling with the express goal of participating in the 2009 Tour de France . Astana manager Johan Bruyneel , Armstrong's former mentor and sporting director , said that he could not allow Armstrong riding for another team and later signed him. Contador hinted at

13974-418: The seventh stage, the queen stage of the race. Contador attacked with 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) left on the stage and Froome (who was suffering from the effects of a crash on the previous day's stage) was not able to bridge the gap to him as Contador took the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. However, Contador fell victim to an ambush on the next stage as several riders in the top ten went into

14111-434: The sponsors had paid part of the past-due wages since the start of the protest "but the major part is still missing." On 3 June the Astana team gave financial guarantees to cycling's governing body which would allow them to compete in the 2009 Tour de France in July, and later that month declared their financial problems to be resolved and the funds secure at least to the end of the season. During these financial problems, it

14248-434: The stage 19 time trial, Contador beat Schleck again, taking 31 seconds from him. Contador went on to win the Tour de France for the third time with an advantage of 39 seconds over Andy Schleck, the exact amount of time he had taken from Schleck on Stage 15. Contador became the seventh rider to win a Tour de France without winning a stage, but this win was later nullified due to his doping suspension. Contador signed

14385-508: The stage to Luz Ardiden and finished two seconds behind Andy Schleck at the top of the Plateau de Beille . On the sixteenth stage to Gap , Contador attacked on the ascent of the Col de Manse, with Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez joining him in taking a time advantage over the other favourites in the general classification, including more than a minute over Schleck. He was also aggressive in

14522-455: The stage's penultimate climb before soloing to the finish. He kept his lead for the remainder of the race, finishing more than two minutes clear ahead of runner-up Quintana. Contador raced the Volta a Catalunya next, where he had his first duel with riders such as Chris Froome and Joaquim Rodríguez . On the race's first mountain stage, he followed attacks set by his fellow general classification contenders before he had to settle for second in

14659-420: The stage, 5 seconds behind Rodríguez. He finished the race in second place overall, just 4 seconds behind Rodríguez. Contador's next objective for the season was the Tour of the Basque Country . He got into a duel with fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde and both riders did not disappoint on the first stage. Contador followed Valverde's attack on the stage's last climb before putting on an attack that Valverde

14796-515: The start list of the race. His Vuelta started well as his team, Tinkoff–Saxo , finished seventh in the opening team time trial, 19 seconds behind the Movistar Team , the team which fielded fellow overall contenders, Quintana and Valverde. On the race's first mountain stage to La Zubia , he was able to stay with the overall contenders as he eventually finished the stage in third place behind Froome and Valverde. He showed his improving form on

14933-424: The start of the Giro d'Italia. He also said that if the financial crisis was not resolved, the team's license should be turned over to Bruyneel, which he said was the "most logical solution." Organizationally, Astana had an unusual structure. Although the Kazakh team holds the UCI license and pays the salaries, the individual rider contracts and equipment leases are held by Bruyneel's Luxembourg-based Olympus SARL, so

15070-558: The start of the race he was implicated along with several teammates in the Operación Puerto doping case by the Spanish authorities, and the team was not able to start. He was later cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale , cycling's governing body . Contador returned to racing in the Vuelta a Burgos but he crashed after finishing fifth in stage 4, when he was riding back down to the team bus, and briefly lost consciousness. After having been implicated in

15207-450: The team and was immediately sacked, three weeks later Valentin's brother, Maxim Iglinskiy was provisionally suspended by the UCI for an EPO-positive on August 1. It was later announced that Astana withdrew themselves from the Tour of Beijing per the MPCC rules, who state that a team with 2 positives in a short period of time must not participate in the next World Tour event. Subsequently,

15344-399: The team could continue with merely a license transfer. UCI President Pat McQuaid was planning a visit to Astana during the Giro to discuss the team's future. According to Armstrong: "I don't have any concrete answers but I suspect we can find some funding that would get us from June to the end of the year." On 11 May, the UCI set a deadline for resolving Astana's financial situation of 31 May,

15481-461: The team for the start of the Vuelta. The next day, Armstrong announced that Bruyneel would take over Team RadioShack in 2010. The immediate result of Vinokourov's return and Bruyneel's departure was a mass exodus from Astana. Although Bruyneel still had a year to run on his contract, Astana permitted his departure in return for him not blocking Vinokourov's return. Contador had a year on his contract, and Astana refused to permit his departure. Much of

15618-414: The team's links to Operación Puerto and involvement in the 2007 Tour doping scandals. This meant that Contador was unable to defend his Tour crown, because his contract did not have an "escape clause" that covered Astana's current situation. One week before the 2008 Giro d'Italia , the organisers went on to invite the team to the race, a race which Alberto Contador went on to win. In July, Vladimir Gusev

15755-481: The team, and during the second half of the season, Vinokourov won the Vuelta a España while riding for the renamed Team Astana, and his Kazakh teammate Andrey Kashechkin finished third. The new Astana management initially tried to buy the ProTour licence of the former Liberty Seguros–Würth team, held by Manolo Saiz . However, Saiz was reluctant to sell, so Astana applied for a licence in their own right. Initially,

15892-572: The time trial on stage 1b, finishing fourth. Contador then won stage 3, a mountaintop finish, by attacking with 7.5 kilometres (4.7 miles) to go. He did however lose the race leader's jersey on the very next stage, another mountain affair, where Chris Froome snatched both the stage win and the race lead. Froome did not relinquish his lead and Contador finished the race second in the overall classification, only 2 seconds behind. In mid-March, Contador finished fifth overall at Tirreno–Adriatico , helping his teammate Peter Sagan win stage 6 by accelerating on

16029-579: The top of Galibier with Schleck, but their effort proved unsuccessful and they were captured by the rest of the main contenders following the long descent from the mountain. Contador launched another attack on the first kilometres of Alpe d'Huez but he was eventually beaten to victory by Pierre Rolland with Samuel Sánchez second. Contador finished fifth in the overall classification, 3 minutes 57 seconds behind Evans, bringing an end to his streak of winning six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered. Contador started his season with still no verdict in

16166-493: The two years he spent at Astana. In 2012, former Astana riders and staff including; Lance Armstrong , Johan Bruyneel , Levi Leipheimer , Dr. Pedro Celaya and Dr. Luis del Moral are heavily implicated in the mass doping scandal which surrounded the U.S. Postal /Discovery Channel team. In September 2014, it emerged that Valentin Iglinskiy has returned a positive test for EPO at the Eneco Tour , he confessed to doping to

16303-538: The week, but that "if Bruyneel does not want me, it will be Bruyneel who is leaving the team." The next day, the French newspaper L'Équipe reported that the Kazakh Cycling Federation planned to fire Bruyneel, Armstrong, Leipheimer and many of the other riders and rebuild the team in the model of the old Liberty Seguros team, which was predominantly Spanish. The paper quoted the vice-president of

16440-517: The yellow jersey. Contador also competed in and concluded the Critérium International with a second place in the final time trial, only 2 seconds behind stage winner David Millar , while Pierrick Fédrigo successfully defended the maillot jaune against rivals such as Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez . Contador was a favourite coming into the Tour de France , along with Team Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck . On Stage 15 Schleck

16577-447: The yellow jersey. He then extended his lead on Stage 17, after finishing second in a breakaway of three riders with the same time as the stage winner, and then the next day he won the second time trial, increasing his overall advantage to more than four minutes. Contador won his second Tour de France on 26 July with a winning margin of 4' 11" over Andy Schleck , and finished 5' 24" ahead of Armstrong, who finished third in his return to

16714-472: Was Nairo Quintana , a competitor he had to contend with at the Tour de France. Contador had solid opening to the first week of the tour; despite losing a little time to Chris Froome in the team time trial , he gained time on his rivals including Nibali and Quintana who both lost time on stage 2. He struggled though on the opening summit finish losing 3 minutes to stage winner Froome putting a serious dent to his victory chances. Despite this setback he improved on

16851-400: Was Tirreno–Adriatico where he faced stiffer competition with riders such as Nairo Quintana and Jean-Christophe Péraud . He continued to show his strong form by winning the third stage of the race going to Cittareale after he outsprinted Quintana, his main rival for the race. He took the lead in the general classification on the next day, winning a second successive stage as he attacked on

16988-546: Was "finished" and that he would be leaving the team, as Vinokourov and the Kazakh federation had discussed, at the end of the season. Despite the comments by Vinokourov and the Kazakhstan federation, Bruyneel and Vinokourov did not reach an agreement regarding Vinokourov's return to Astana for 2009, and the team submitted a preliminary roster to the 2009 Vuelta a España listing him only as a reserve. Finally, on 24 August, Astana announced that an agreement had been reached between Vinokourov and Bruyneel and that Vinokourov would rejoin

17125-400: Was able to finish but dislocated the shoulder again before the podium presentation. Despite this, Contador was able to continue in the race, holding on to the jersey. However, on stage 13, on what most assumed was an "easy day" of racing, Contador crashed in a pile-up, 3.2 kilometres (2.0 miles) from the finish; he crossed the line 42 seconds behind the peloton, including Aru. Thus Contador lost

17262-492: Was announced that Contador would rejoin Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank upon the completion of his ban, signing a contract that would keep him with the team until the end of the 2015 season. After the completion of his suspension, Contador competed in the Eneco Tour as preparation for the Vuelta a España where he finished 4th in the general classification. Consequently, Contador was named leader of Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank for

17399-519: Was confirmed on 15 August, when a spokesperson for the Kazakhstan sponsors of Astana said that they intended to sponsor the Astana team on the UCI ProTour through 2013 and that they intended to enforce the last year of Contador's contract with Astana in 2010. On 21 February, Contador won his first race of the season, the Volta ao Algarve , by winning its queen stage and finishing second in the final time trial. Due to new UCI regulations concerning

17536-450: Was confirmed that Lance Armstrong – at the time considered a seven-time Tour de France winner – would leave retirement to ride for the team in the 2009 season. Along with Armstrong, Yaroslav Popovych , another former Discovery Channel rider, joined the ranks of Astana, which brought the number of former Discovery Channel riders on Astana to nine (Armstrong, Popovych, Contador, Leipheimer, Rubiera, Noval, Vaitkus, Paulinho and Brajkovič). It

17673-488: Was dropped. Contador won the stage by six seconds over the first chase group and took the lead away from Rodríguez, who was relegated to more than two minutes in the general classification. He held on to the race lead during the last mountain stage leading atop the Bola del Mondo, where he was dropped by Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde ( Movistar Team ), who held second place overall. He managed to limit his losses and retain

17810-567: Was initially used by Team CSC starting in 2007. The link between the Discovery Channel team and Astana was strengthened when Bruyneel signed a contract with Trek Bicycle Corporation to supply the team with bicycles and components, as they had done with Discovery Channel. Bruyneel also affirmed sponsorship with component maker SRAM . On 13 February 2008, the organisers of both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France announced that Astana would be barred from their 2008 Grand Tours, due to

17947-440: Was not able to answer. He negotiated the descent and soloed to the stage win and yellow jersey, 14 seconds ahead of Valverde. He kept the race lead to the end, finishing second on the final stage time trial and winning the race by 49 seconds ahead of Michał Kwiatkowski. As his final preparation for the Tour de France , Contador entered the Critérium du Dauphiné where he battled with Froome and Vincenzo Nibali , his main rivals for

18084-432: Was not invited to the 2008 Giro d'Italia based on failing to meet the criteria of ethics, quality, or internationality. However, on 3 May, one week before the start of the race, Giro organizers chose to extend a last-minute invitation to Astana. Astana was able to field a team despite the short notice, and on 1 June, Alberto Contador won the Giro , finishing 11th on the final stage time trial to keep his pink jersey and take

18221-422: Was race leader and pressing the pace over the day's final climb of Port de Bales when he threw his chain . Contador and Denis Menchov immediately moved to the front and attacked, pressing the advantage over the crest of the climb and all the way back down into Bagneres-de-Luchon. They were aided by Samuel Sánchez and two others making a group of five riders. Schleck chased hard, but had no other riders to help bridge

18358-543: Was reported that Armstrong would share team leadership with current leader Contador, that he intended to participate in the Tour Down Under , the Tour of California , Paris–Nice , the Tour de Georgia , the Critérium du Dauphiné Liberé and the Tour de France , and that he would receive no salary or bonuses, instead directing his attention to raising awareness for cancer research. Along with Armstrong and Popovych, Astana also signed Jesús Hernández , who had joined

18495-482: Was rumored that three of the former Discovery Channel riders on the team – team leader Contador and his domestiques Benjamín Noval and Sérgio Paulinho would join Garmin–Slipstream for the Tour de France if Armstrong were to take over the Astana team. These problems seemed to be resolved, at least for the remainder of 2009, when the team's funding was resolved. However, the funding battle may have been merely

18632-483: Was sacked by the team due to "irregular values" highlighted by the team's new internal anti-doping system. In 2009, after returning from retirement, Lance Armstrong was accused by the French anti-doping agency of acting improperly by disappearing from the sight of the anti-doping investigator for 20 minutes. In June, Assan Bazayev was given a two-week internal suspension for not correctly reporting his whereabouts properly. In September 2010, Alberto Contador returned

18769-417: Was suspended and subsequently fired. This was followed by the termination of José Antonio Redondo 's contract after "failing to abide by team rules", making him the fifth rider of the team to leave during the 2007 season. Following the doping problems of 2007, Astana's sponsors replaced Biver with Johan Bruyneel , the former directeur sportif of the defunct Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team . Bruyneel had

#722277