KZBlog

In researching my last post, I reread a bunch of articles on why Contador left Astana. Although there were issues when Armstrong was riding with them regarding pay and of course, the team almost lost its license at one point, it looks like mens sports equipment was the big issue or the straw that broke the cyclist’s back. So to speak.

I seem to remember Lance and Alberto talking about having to buy certain cycling equipment when they were abroad because they couldn’t get good quality stuff in Kazakhstan, but I can’t find a source on that. However, well sourced are the frequent radio breakdowns during last year’s Tour de France. More importantly Contador blames the breakdown a TV in the Astana pace car for Chaingate, when Andy Schleck, the leader, had to stop to change his chain. Although it’s bad form to try to beat the leader when he has a pit stop, Contador didn’t know he’d stopped and thus charged on ahead.

So it seems unlikely that Contador would want to return to Astana in any way, shape or form.