2009 Tour de France
LONDON, England (BBC) – Seven-time winner Lance Armstrong says new Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is so good the Spaniard would have beaten him in his own heyday.
Armstrong finished third behind his Astana team-mate on his return to the race for the first time since 2005.
The American said: “I think this year’s performance would have beaten my performances in 2001, 2004 and 2005.
“Contador is that good, so I don’t see how I would have been higher than that, even in the other years.”
The 26-year-old Spaniard was the strongest rider in the mountains and in the time trials and eventually beat Andy Schleck by four minutes 11 seconds, with Armstrong third at 5:24 back and Briton Bradley Wiggins in fourth, 6:01 adrift.
There were regular reports of tension between Armstrong and Contador, with the 37-year-old American often criticising his Astana team-mate’s strategy.
Contador, who missed last year’s Tour after Astana were not invited because of their past doping record, said the hardest moment of the 2009 race was “in the team hotel”, but that his victory was “more special because of it”.
“This Tour was very difficult as you could see and although it sometimes seems easy on television it wasn’t because of other factors. I will enjoy this second Tour win as if it was a double victory.”
With Armstrong set to return to the Tour next year with his new Team RadioShack, the two will no longer have to hide their rivalry amid the constraints of being team-mates.
Race organiser Christian Prudhomme is among those relishing the prospect of another vintage race in 2010.
“We need duels in sport, like (Rafael) Nadal v (Roger) Federer or (Bernard) Hinault v (Greg) LeMond,” he said.
“We haven’t decided which teams will be invited next year but, looking ahead, a team with Contador, another with Armstrong and another one with the Schleck brothers (Andy and Frank) would be sensational.”
Andy Schleck, the younger of the Luxembourg brothers who twice previously won the Tour’s white jersey awarded to its best rider under 25, has already sent Contador a warning.
“I’m coming back to take the yellow jersey,” said the 24-year-old.
“Alberto showed this year that he was the strongest, the real boss of the peloton. I have much respect for him, but next year I’m coming to win.”
After a number of doping scandals to have hit the Tour in recent years, including the disqualification of 2006 winner Floyd Landis after testing positive for testosterone, the 2009 event passed without incident, pending the final test results.
Three years ago pre-race favourites Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich were ejected because of their links to the ‘Operation Puerto’ doping affair in Spain and a year later Astana were disqualified after leader Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping.
“Coming through the Tour without having to deal with scandal was pleasing,” Prudhomme added.
“There will be other (positive) cases; that’s just the way it is in sport. But I really think things are changing. The targeting of riders and the (biological) passport means that nowadays it is far more difficult to cheat and get away with it.”
After his victory on Sunday following almost 3 500km of racing over 21 stages in three weeks, Contador added: “I’m happy to win a Tour de France that has so far been clean.
“I get tested all year long. I make myself available 365 days a year, and I do it willingly. There has been huge investment to fight doping in the sport and for me it’s a good thing.”
