Contador’s triumph takes a back seat
It sums up the current state of cycling that Contador’s maiden Tour de France success was viewed with scepticism as much as anything else.
Not since Marco Pantani in 1998 has an out-and-out climber prevailed in the Tour, and the likes of Lance Armstrong and Miguel Indurain — who between them won the yellow jersey 12 times — have been quick to talk up Contador’s bright future.
But, following a Tour that has seen one doping scandal after another rear its ugly head, the 24-year-old’s achievement has been overshadowed.
There were more column inches about doping than there were about Contador in yesterday’s press in France, with Patrice Clerc — the president of Tour organiser Amaury Sport Organisation — speaking of his “anger” at the drugs issues that have beset the event once again.
It emerged that Government officials in France will this week meet with Clerc and other cycling chiefs as discussions continue regarding the path to take in the fight against drugs.
There is also a debate about the plausibility of introducing national squads for the 2008 Tour.
Clerc is considering a mixed format for the Tour in future featuring national sides alongside the usual sponsored teams, something which has not happened since 1968.
He said: “I believe a mixed formula is possible, not merely a proposition.
“Part of the teams invited to the event would be reserved for national squads. It is possible to envisage that and perhaps that is the road that we must go down.”
Contador has not escaped untainted as reports continue to link him with Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor at the heart of the doping Operation Puerto investigation.
The Discovery rider maintains his innocence and on Sunday spoke of fulfilling a lifetime ambition by winning the Tour.
Indurain, the last Spaniard to top the podium in Paris before Contador, said of the newly-crowned champion: “He has the engine to be a great champion. Despite his youth, he has been strong in the mountains and knew how to resist in the time-trials.
“Now we will have to see how he copes with the pressure of his success.”
Armstrong had earlier said of Contador: “I think we’ve seen the future of Spanish cycling and perhaps international cycling.”
Meanwhile Alexandre Vinokourov has been fired by the Astana cycling team. Vinokourov, the pre-race favourite, was thrown out of the Tour de France last week after returning a ‘non-negative’ Test result for blood doping after the time-trial in Albi.
Vinokourov on Saturday proclaimed his innocence, claiming he would “have to be mad” to have committed the alleged doping offence.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
