Contador Reaches "Pre-Agreement" With Astana
by BTD on Nov 19, 2009 3:22 PM EST
44 comments
EFE reports:
Alberto Contador and Astana have reached a preagreement to complete the remaining year of Contador's contract which ends in 2010, according to a press release from Contador's press agent. The agreement is conditioned upon Astana "maintaining its Pro Tour license and stirctly complies with the ethical code and an internal anti-drug control system to be implemented by the new leaders of the team. [. . .] The duration of the contract that will be signed is only for one year, because in addition to this being a new project for Astana [??], Alberto Contador does not want to abandon the possibility of making a longer term decision regarding his cycling future until after he has the full freedom to evaluate all his options at the end of 2010," concludes the press release.
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How this is a "new project" for Astana
is not clear to me.
This is a poorly written press release for a situation that appears to be Contador deciding he can not get out of being at Astana and he is trying his best to put a good PR spin on it for himself.
Obviously, this is his last year at Astana.
Do you think the translation is poor or was the original press release poorly written.
I’m guessing that Contador could have gotten out of his contract, but Astana could have created all kinds of legal road blocks that weren’t going to be worth the frustration or the lawyers fees.
"Drawing on my fine command of language I said nothing."- Groucho
Well
It is my translation so I do not want to point the finger at myself.
I think the statement is poor in the EFE story and the parts quoted therein are pretty poor.
But what can you say?’ I would leave Astana now if I could but I can’t so I will stay grudgingly for the year? ’
Hard statement to write.
Your own translation.
That’s cool. I’m definitely lost without Google and others translations.
"Drawing on my fine command of language I said nothing."- Groucho
Yep
Now on his website
http://www.albertocontador.es/prensa.detalle.php?id=254
Not exactly an overwhelming endorsement though
“to fulfil the remainder of the contract that binds them "
Well, I don't think any of us
thought that AC was happy about his situation at Astana: while they’ve been making nice-nice noises to him, the fact is that Vino’s coming back, and I think AC has every reason to expect a repeat of the drama in the 2009 Tour (albeit with probably a bit less media pressure since Vino’s palmares aren’t quite those of Lance’s). And, frankly, who knows what the cycling world will look like a year from now. I guess most of us would think he’d want to go to CdE or Garmin, but we’ll see…
He'll have a team
Becuz who wouldn’t want to sign up for a year at least (even with the dodgiest of teams) and know you’ll win the TdF plus a bunch of other races….
good point
i hear it’s good money to be on the TdF winner’s team.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
My favorite thing about Contador's contract
(as it has been reported on CN)
is that it requires Astana to have a strong anti-doping policy and an internal testing program.
The fact that a rider is demanding this of a team (rather than vice-versa) says something about a) the state of cycling in general and b) the reputation of the people behind Astana.
by GreylockGrinder on Nov 19, 2009 6:49 PM EST reply actions
I like that part as well
It’s like he’s saying “I don’t trust you guys and if one of you scumbags gets popped I get to walk.”
No horn, watch for finger.
ding ding ding!
Exactly. And I bet it also calls for him to be paid his full salary if he does, too.
and c) Contador's stature.
He’s bigger than most teams now.
As an aside I like that Contador is staying with Astana from a competitive angle. He’ll have a good team* behind him-not great like this year’s and last year’s Astanas. The team should put him in position to win most times but won’t be so over the top dominant that other teams won’t think they have to dance to Astana’s tune.
- A stage racing team with Navarro, Noval, Hernandez, De La Fuente, Bazayev, Tiralongo, Gasparotto, Stangelj, Renev, Iglinsky, Fofonov, Grivko, Dyachenko, and maybe Tondo is a very nice team, full of good domestiques for the flats and mountains. They should be able to keep Bert safe until they launch him up some mountain for a win. The main weakness is that unless Navarro or one of the young Kazaks develops a little more, other teams will only have Contador to worry about. Of course that’s a worry that no one has solved lately…
not a bad support team
and he gets his men.
good thing there’s no ttt obviously.
I don’t like astana, but well, this just have to do…..
Tiralongo is quite capable to be with Contador for a while after his breakout ride during the Vuelta...
Plus another man or 2 should be coming.
by Vlaanderen90 on Nov 20, 2009 12:22 AM EST up reply actions
Is Zubeldia not staying at Astana now?
"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.
That's what I though
Ursula left him off! ;-)
"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.
Zubes
Yeah I left him out because I keep reading contradictory information and different transfer sites have him listed differently. Definitely he’s an asset if he stays.
Just read something on CN actually
which says he’s still trying to find a loophole in his contract…nothing defo then, though I think he may have trouble!
"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.
The tiresome part of that lukewarm statement
is that now we can count on an ongoing saga of “Where will Contador ride in 2011?” throughout the season.
I'm almost looking forward to the 'Accountant 2011' saga
It will briefly make a nice change… very, very briefly, I grant you…
So the man himself says that the whole ‘no Vino in the Tour’-clause-thing is a load of bollocks. The Flemish press making shit up?! – truly, I am shocked, LOL. (It has got to the point, with the current saga, where I have had to adopt the policy of: “I’ll believe it when I see it in Russian”)
You mean you know what you're seeing in Russian? Clever girl ;)
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Lord no!
I can recognise a few words, but beyond that I have NFI. I have to rely very heavily on the translations gizmos, sadly. Often with somewhat amusing results…
My Church Slavonic is coming on a treat. The Russian, not so much.
Unfortunately most of my vocab concerns God and angels, which isn’t highly useful.
"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.
Well, if it's an encounter that begins with "You look like an angel"
and ends with “God! God!”, you could do all right with that.
It was just a long race--Edvald Boasson Hagen, on the Giro
Bahaha!
More like “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost…blah blah blah”. I’m recording a CD in January called Mother Russia, having done three Russian vocal concerts this year. By the end of that I will have gone barmy.
"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.
OK, I take it back. After looking below, I'm thinking Albertina
could accept the accolade.
Sadly though I was joking before. OMG, even a fellow traveller can’t see my lame attempts at humour …
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
LOL, at half past midnight I see a great many things
… but at this hour, rarely do I see ‘the obvious’, that which is right under my nose, subtle undertones and subtext, etc etc etc…
Maybe I should move to the other side of the desk for a while ;)
The hour might excuse my joke too …
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
Ataque a Astana - 20-11-2009
Contador: ‘’En el Tour me tuve que comprar las ruedas’’
http://www.terra.es/deportes/ciclismo/articulo/contador-compro-ruedas-tour-astana-710921.htm
seems that way....
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
22 million euros is a lot, right?
Astana not short of money now. This article at Biciciclismo seems to be indicating Astana will also undergo a name change, to Samruk Kazyna (although I think they mean 2010, not 2020)—readers of Spanish please confirm?
It was just a long race--Edvald Boasson Hagen, on the Giro
Is Kayzna the biljonair who injected money in the team>?
What do you fear most?
1. coup d’etat
2. putsch
It's a company, according to this
Samruk – Kazyna is a company managing government-owned assets, which controls shares of national companies and financial development institutions with a total market capitalization of around $30 bln USD.
—link
It was just a long race--Edvald Boasson Hagen, on the Giro
Here's an article in English
at VeloNation. They say 15 million euros/22 million dollars. Still a lot of cash.
It was just a long race--Edvald Boasson Hagen, on the Giro
14 million Euros.
22 million dollars. And this money was supposedly one of the conditions for Bert to stay.
Your bike doesn't want to crash so relax and let it roll!!!
And now Muravyev is reported to be leaving his home country's team.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/muravyev-out-of-astana-stangelj-in
The report says he may be leaving Astana and going to the Shack.
No horn, watch for finger.
Oops, I misread pre-agreement as pre-nup.
"As you can imagine, there are better places to have your birthday party than in some village called Mushny Mush Mishme." --The Wisdom of Jens
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