Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has decided not to renew his
contract with Astana and will leave the Kazakh-funded team at the end of
the season.
“Alberto Contador has rejected the ultimatum of Astana,” the
statement read, adding the team had expected a decision by Tuesday at
the latest on their offer to extend his contract for an unspecified
number of seasons. His contract will end at the end of this season.
After winning the 2010 Tour he will take time to calmly study
all the offers that come his way for racing in the coming seasons,
without any of them being ruled out at the moment.
Contador joined Astana in 2008 after the Discovery Channel team was
disbanded following the Pinto-born rider’s Tour triumph in 2007. With
Astana, Contador won the Tour de France twice in 2009 and 2010 as well
as the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta (both 2008). Contador won the
Paris-Nice race with Astana in March and then added a third Tour title
last Sunday, beating Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck by 39 seconds in the
General Classification.
Reuters
