Contador paid for his own wheels...

victorponf

The first time i readed about this was in July, in the Pais (spanish newspaper), and Carlos Arribas said even in the Mont Ventoux Contador had to descent in his brother´s car, because nobody in the team carried him.


http://www.elpais.com/articulo/deportes ... %25253D375

dave_1

sounds like AC increasngly had to go his own way at TDF...brother as driver and mechanic, one woder if he would really trust their cook...no way would Lemond have...he had his bottles finger printed he was that scared

frenchfighter

Contador says again that he had to buy his own wheels in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

cougie

I just cant believe that Johan would deliberately leave their tour winner behind at the hotel. How furious would the team sponsors be, and it wouldnt show him in a good light for the future. Lance will drop out of pro cycling in 2 years or so - he's done it before and left a lot of people in the lurch.

I had a great photo of Sean Kelly, clearly wearing Puma shoes, but they'd been bootpolished over and three white adidas stripes painted over. It was the back cover of the comic.

teagar

cougie wrote:

I just cant believe that Johan would deliberately leave their tour winner behind at the hotel. How furious would the team sponsors be, and it wouldnt show him in a good light for the future. Lance will drop out of pro cycling in 2 years or so - he's done it before and left a lot of people in the lurch.

I had a great photo of Sean Kelly, clearly wearing Puma shoes, but they'd been bootpolished over and three white adidas stripes painted over. It was the back cover of the comic.

I think you might be underestimating how much money Armstrong's success has generated. It's stunningly more than Contador will ever make, and it will continue making more money as a legecy. I understand from the book he wrote that Johan too wants a slice of the lagacy benefits. And why not? He's certainly earned it. If that means shafting Contador a bit then so be it. Occasionally when you're the boss you have to eat a bowl of sh!t.

shinyhelmut

I don't remember Lance leaving anyone "in the lurch" last time he retired. IIRC he'd stated his intention to retire after the '05 tour a year or 2 in advance?

what is the world coming to, I'm defending Lance! Must remember to be less open-minded in the future

mididoctors

cougie wrote:

I just cant believe that Johan would deliberately leave their tour winner behind at the hotel. How furious would the team sponsors be, and it wouldnt show him in a good light for the future.

yeah pretty crazy... can you imagine the total cr4p vortex that would have created if AC had turned up late for his TT start and lost the tour?

moray_gub

frenchfighter wrote:

Contador says again that he had to buy his own wheels in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

There is nothing to see here move on................

Pokerface

If he paid for his own wheels - why is he riding THE SAME WHEELS AS THE REST OF THE TEAM!!!???


Surely - if you're going to buy your own kit, you're going to pick something better than a Bontrager disc and Hed Tri-spoke?

At the very least a ZIpp Disc or a Hed Disc. But a Bontry disc?

Makes no sense - especially when it's the wheels that he would have been provided with for free.

sherer

i think a lot of the time when riders buy their own kit it has to be branded as team issue so as not to upset the sponsors

bompington

Apparently what really happened was that he discovered his wheels had been stolen in the night and replaced by osmium/iridium alloy replicas. When he discovered what happened early the next morning he had to nip out to the LBS to see what he could get, it took some time as the first 3 shops were all closed for a Texan national holiday.

cougie

ShinyHelmut wrote:

I don't remember Lance leaving anyone "in the lurch" last time he retired. IIRC he'd stated his intention to retire after the '05 tour a year or 2 in advance?

what is the world coming to, I'm defending Lance! Must remember to be less open-minded in the future

I was talking about the Discovery Team folding. If LA had wanted to - he could have kept that team running. Nobody in the States would have had a better chance than he would. Instead he turned his back on cycling, and his team mates were left without jobs.

frenchfighter

The latest on this is quite funny. The dynamic duo should try telling the truth once in a while...

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/2901/ ... laims.aspx

dulldave

cougie wrote:

I was talking about the Discovery Team folding. If LA had wanted to - he could have kept that team running. Nobody in the States would have had a better chance than he would. Instead he turned his back on cycling, and his team mates were left without jobs.

I agree. I can remember the press statement at the time was quite hypocritical, talking about cycling being in a bad place etc etc and seeing them return when it had got itself back together.

I can remember finding this quite hard to swallow. Regardless of what you think about the did-they didn't-they argument about doping. They certainly didn't lift a finger to help matters. Other than that 'donation'.

lucybears

frenchfighter wrote:

The latest on this is quite funny. The dynamic duo should try telling the truth once in a while...

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/2901/ ... laims.aspx

Josu Garai original Marca article
http://marcawas5.recoletos.es/blogs/Con ... dPost=5129

Unsheath

Looks like it was a Lightweight disk and not a Bontrager. Makes Sense.

jerry3571

Just looked on youtube to look at the Annecy TT and it all looks fair and square from this link-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8PCADMblxg

Just liked say Hi to Ac's mum- "FF"

We all think your boy is lovely.

-Jerry

PS- Driven through Annecy a couple of years ago and stayed in Chamonix; cracking area.
Happy days!