Taken from another site after being translated from Spanish:
A Tale of solitude http://www.diariosur.es/...ntador-20090727.html
It happened on Thursday, a few hours before the Annecy ITT. Contador came downstairs to the entrance of the Palace of Menthon, the luxurious Astana hotel. The Tour was on. He looked right, then left. Nobody, nothing. No Astana cars or helpers. Cold sweat. Quick time check. Where are they? The hotel is several kilometers from the start. There he was, the leader of the Tour, in flip-flops, bag in hand and alone. He went to the hall looking for an answer: Armstrong had ordered the helpers to go pick up his wife, kids and friends to the airport.
Contador left his room last because he was the last one starting the ITT. Armstrong had managed to take away his means of transportation. The straw that broke the camel’s back. Hot flashes, he was rabid. He called his brother Fran. He came to pick him up by car and took him to Annecy in a private vehicle. He left last and finished first. His best victory. In the ITT. In solitude. The same way he has won his second tour.
Contador’s toughest climb was not recorded in images. It was narrated by others. It was fought in the hotel and the bus: during one stage, Armstrong sat his guests at the very back of the bus, right in Contador’s usual seat. One more provocation. Armstrong to the luxury suite. Contador to sleep with Paulinho, the only ally. Same deal during the entire tour. Mouth shut, listening to Armstrong’s jabs: “It doesn’t take a Nobel prize to figure out what happens with side winds”. Contador didn’t reply in the hotel. He did on the road. He attacked in the first mountain finish in Arcalis. Without permission from Bruyneel, Armstrong’s DS. That night the Astana hotel was a funeral. Red eyes from the Texan (anger? crying? not sure). The first cyclist that stood up to him. And he did it in silence."
Not in the article – apparently LA did not attend the team dinner in Paris to celebrate Contadors victory.
Have at it boys.
If AC had coughed without covering his mouth, LA would have twittered it in a second. If this is true, LA is an even bigger baby than I originally thought, and that’s really saying something. Are we sure he isn’t still hanging out with Paris Hilton???
I wonder if Lance knows what goes on at a dinner celebrating a TDF win?
Prolly not… LA is a second rate rider, always has been and always wil… oh wait.
AC knows what it’s like too. Wonder what your reaction would be if LA had one and AC took a pass on the TEAM dinner. “Lance” has 5 letters in it. So does “pussy”.
If true this goes to show you that these guys have plenty of time to input/extract their “chilled” RBC’s without getting caught. Alone in the hotel? Ride with his brother?
AC knows what it’s like too. Wonder what your reaction would be if LA had one and AC took a pass on the TEAM dinner. “Lance” has 5 letters in it. So does “pussy”.
So LA is a pussy because he didn’t go to a team dinner, the kind they have every night and that riders often come and go and eat as they please based on shower, massage, media and sleep schedules?
“hey pistolero, there is no “i” in “team”. what did i say in March? Lots to Learn. Restated.”
Lance is the very definition of ‘sore loser’.
yeah, but he would have won last year–at least according to him…
I’m actually just thinking that aerobike just hacked Lance’s twitter account. If not, he’s channeling Greg Lemond, which is awesomely funny on so many levels.
If I may comment… AC went “Rogue” and it is a team sport. Who is to say that had he not made that move, things might have turned out differently. He is no doubt fit enough to hold the title. Anyway, I heard in a video report that he complained that all his teammates were “cold” towards him, not just LA, and he was having a difficult time at the hotel with his entire team.
why do I fear LA becoming more like LeMond everyday. I admit to not being an expert cyclist or even particularly knowledgeable about GT racing, but what I saw in this year’s TDF was at least 2 riders who were heads and shoulders above LA. I thinki AC and AS could have given “the look” to LA on just about any steep pitch and left him in several minutes back.