The thing I've learned from reading tons of old articles and things, and that's buried by all the propaganda, is that Contador seems to be a really decent human being. In that excellent Cycle Sport interview after the Tour, he had a chance to give Lance hell, but he wouldn't say anything about him. At the Tour de France course unveiling, he walked up and shook hands with Lance, because that's what he does. Lance pulled all that crap in the press, slinging mud at Alberto and denigrating him and the Spanish press, and Contador never even saw most of it, and about what he did hear, he said he placed no importance on it. I got a kick out of the video interview he did for Specialized at camp, when he was asked about it. He said that the only stuff he knew about was when someone would come up to him (AC simulates holding a paper) and said, "did you see what he said about you!?", and he laughed, and he meant the laugh. He sent Bruyneel a Christmas card. Jonathan Vaughters tweeted on New Years that Alberto had called him to wish him a Happy New Year, and described him as "a very polite boy". Martinelli said that with Pantani he never knew if he was getting through or not, but Alberto had him over to the house, and showed him his bikes, and listened to stories for hours.
And people have picked on Contador's entourage, but they're real, down to Earth people just like he is. I've read tech articles that include his mechanic,, Faustino Munoz. After the Time Trial where Contador was forced to ride the Specialized bike he had never been on until the day before, but Faustino dialed it in, Alberto got off the bike when he finished and rushed over to give him a big hug of gratitude. I'm just an unemployed fat guy in a basement apartment, but Contador's press agent exchanged e-mails with me at the time the Wheel Gate thing was solved. He said he'd back me up all day long for fighting the fight, but that on their side they just wanted to avoid polemics. I finished with something about us fans defending Alberto from the attacks if he wouldn't defend himself. (A twitter friend and I had wished he would have a moment like the one in The American President). He must have passed that along, because a few hours later, there was an interview on the Marca site, with a subtitle that I can't recall word for word, but was basically him stepping up. His Manager brother Fran would do anything for him. Alberto only goes away on vacation a week at a time because Macarena likes having a job and doesn't get much time off. He gets in trouble if he doesn't call his Mom after a race. They're just good, normal, people. And Alberto is intelligent and professional.
Here's your reward for reading all that. I just went to the Specialized site. They have a contest where you pick either Alberto or Andy Schleck. You enter your name and e-mail address, and if you win, your name will be custom painted on the bike they ride at the Tour de France.
http://iamspecialized.com/inittowinit/
I just went back & checked the rules. There will be a total of 500 winners, I believe divided between the two, and those will be divided between the 21 stages.
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