Contador lessened his character with comments about Armstrong
By Jon Stonehouse
Managing Editor
The rest of the world, especially the French, can finally
celebrate— Lance Armstrong didn’t win the Tour de France this year.
But is Alberto Contador really the same caliber of a winner
as Armstrong? Ask him and he’ll say he’s better. He would say that.
At a recent press conference in Madrid, Spain, Contador said
that despite Armstrong’s legendary status in the world of cycling, he never has
or will have any admiration for Armstrong.
Contador went on further to actually insult Armstrong personally,
questioning his character.
It’s easy to tell Contador is new at this being a champion
thing. When have you ever seen the winner rub their victory in the face of their
opponent and come out of it a class act? Contador was supposed to learn that
lesson when he was playing youth soccer as a boy.
Indeed, this is a lesson of character.
It may have served him better to keep his mouth shut and just
wave to the crowds. Instead, Contador found the cajones to personally assault a
seven-time winner of the Tour de France and cancer survivor who has done more
for the sport and the public image of cyclists than Contador could ever dream
in his entire lifetime.
At least for a long time now, when “Tour de France” is
spoken, the name Lance Armstrong will no doubt be one of the first faces to
come up.
Contador missed out on a great opportunity. Instead of
befriending the most experienced rider in the Tour, whose wisdom and mentorship
could have probably made him twice the better cyclist, Contador instead bickered
and squandered the opportunity he had with his teammate.
Contador makes for a lousy teammate to begin with. In one of
the last final mountain stages, he threw teammate Andreas Kloden (there is an
umlaut over the “o”) to the wolves, which hurt Armstrong and ultimately team
Astana’s final placings in the race.
Now the names Sergei Fedorov, Shaquille O’Neal, Terrell
Owens and Alberto Contador all have a familiar story. Each lacks humility, which
is probably the most important lesson in character.
Every sport has one; the guy who runs his mouth and lets his
head get too big. Some may have thought that of Armstrong (never mind he kept
winning year after year), but clearly the torch has been passed in the cycling
world.
Jon Stonehouse, the Western Herald managing editor, is a senior double majoring in journalism and political science and can be reached via e-mail at herald-managing@wmich.edu.
Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=6927
Posted by heraldstaff
on Jul 29 2009. Filed under Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
http://HeraldStaff
Loading ...
Hello Jon,
I must comment on your posting of 7/29/09 regarding this years tour de France. As a Texan, and a bike rider, I have a good deal of respect for the
accomplishments of Lance Armstrong. I have to take issue with your take
on the race. We found out in the last days of the race that Radio Shack
had a 10 to 15 million dollar deal for a team featuring LA. This is the
support cost that it takes to fund a team these days! I’m sure R.S. was
waiting to see if LA actually could deliver a good result before they would
announce a finalized deal. So LA “volunteered” to ride for Astana, sans
any pay, to ride with the strongest team! Can you imagine the intense
pressure on LA to succeed? Was Brunyeel in on the deal? Did the other
riders know? What I know for sure is that Armstong came to an existing
team, with a clear leader, stating in the days before the race, that he came
there to “WIN”. I can only imagine the animosity Contador must have felt
at that time! How would you have felt? Well LA has his deal, Alberto will be
on a new team, and all the talk about Contador’s lack of character will fade
for now, but “look out” Lance fans, AC will be back in France in 2010 with
a massive axe to grind and to quote admiral Yamamoto, filled with a
terrible resolve! Good luck Lance , you’re going to need all the luck there
is next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if AC won by more than 10 minutes
in that race!
Looking forward to 2010,
Leslie Miller
Congrats to you, finally someone said it like it is. Contador is a pompass ass that does not know team work, respect or being unselfish. He will never be the cyclist that Lance is. He truly lacks the character to even come close to what Lance is as a person. It will be interesting to see the Tour in 2010. I liked Burneel’s comment “It is better to not speak and be thought a fool, than to open ones mouth and leave no doubt”. Think he was talking about Contador? But Burneel is to much a professional to comment directly on Contador. Will be interested to see when Contador winds up next year.
This commentary is hopelessly one-sided. Lance Armstrong has been sniping at Contador for ages – to criticise your own team leader before and during the Tour de France is a taboo in the sport.
Look, Contador is no angel (and judging from the behaviours of Klödi and Leipheimer, a poor team mate), but to set Armstrong as a counterpoint for Contador’s supposed lack of humility and class is incredible. It is Contador who kept silent, kept his chin up, and proved his worth when the going got tough; and it was Armstrong who was undermining and disrespecting his own leader in a sport that values competency and hierarchy.
If anything Armstrong’s own arrogance, which has served him OK in his career, has hurt him now. It is a bit sad to see Armstrong struggling in the hors categorie climbs to fend off Bradley Wiggins, the British cyclist who is not even known for his climbing prowess but has somehow managed to finish just one place below Armstrong.
contador is a COWARD!!! he waits till he gets home and then start ripping lance. how do you bash your teammate and saying that you have no admiration for him? this guy is a fluke.