Where is Alberto Contador going?

[saxe_coburg_gotha]

Back to his mamma. Espana is calling,
Yellow jersey and red face after el outburst suits him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

i think ac will go to shytehole lotto. Just joking . It would be garmin if garmin worked a deal with ac quicker. NO will it will be caisse d epargne as AC already knows what garmin is throwing on the table.

 

[ThisFrenchGuy]

Back on topic, despite what the Contador fan club (otherwise known as the obsessed with LA hate club) will tell you it's not up to Contador whether or not he rides for Astana next year. It's up to Vino and the Astana backers.

Seems pretty definitive to me in the way you word it. Holding a different view than what you exposed is being "an AC fanboy" and a "LA hater" too, even though his contractual obligations have nothing to do with that.
I doubt anyone here has the faintest idea of what his contract is and entails. I would suppose it's a long, very complicated document, esp. when you consider the mess that is the current Astana team, the third different incarnation of it.

This is the profile of Astana team (JB version), look at the adress and name listed.
Here

And this is what the Boulder report had to say in 2008

Because maybe Bruyneel isn’t returning with Astana either. The cycling team known as Astana is really Olympus Sarl, a holding company based in Luxembourg that is wholly owned by Johan Bruyneel. Bruyneel holds the UCI racing license for the team. His company employs the staff and directors. He owns the team busses and cars, signs the sponsor agreements for equipment and cash and has full operational control over the entire apparatus. Most crucially, when riders sign contracts, they do so with Bruyneel and Olympus, not the Kazakh sponsors. The smart money says get ready for something like Team Livestrong, presented by Nike. And don’t, by the way, expect Alberto Contador to be lieutenant number one.

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2008/09/page/6/

So is AC contracted to JB? Or to Astana? Did JB and Astana had to struck some kind of deal on the riders contract? Do AC has an out option and if so on what terms?

But sure, AC "staying at Astana" (more like joining the new Astana, since JB is leaving and that Vino claims tha Kazakhs will reclaim full control) is a possibility.

 

[Chomsky]

Seems pretty definitive to me in the way you word it. Holding a different view than what you exposed is being "an AC fanboy" and a "LA hater" too, even though his contractual obligations have nothing to do with that.
I doubt anyone here has the faintest idea of what his contract is and entails. I would suppose it's a long, very complicated document, esp. when you consider the mess that is the current Astana team, the third different incarnation of it.

This is the profile of Astana team (JB version), look at the adress and name listed.
Here

And this is what the Boulder report had to say in 2008

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2008/09/page/6/

So is AC contracted to JB? Or to Astana? Did JB and Astana had to struck some kind of deal on the riders contract? Do AC has an out option and if so on what terms?

But sure, AC "staying at Astana" (more like joining the new Astana, since JB is leaving and that Vino claims tha Kazakhs will reclaim full control) is a possibility.

AC's brother admitted today that AC is contracted with Astana through the 2010 season and that they want out of the contract. He implied that it will be very difficult to get out of that contract. I am sure AC has competent representation and knows who he is contracted with. Maybe a poor assumption?

Do we know all the details? No. But we do know the first hurdle before going anywhere is either to get over the Astana hurdle. I will agree with you that it is conjecture as to what the terms are. All we can do is read what is said and speculate.

In regards to the Lance Hater/AC defender fanclub there are a few well known posters who are LA haters/ Contador defenders who post frequently and loudly on these forums. I have seen these very loud people tell other people who disagree with them to leave, tell other posters they have no right to post here if they are not a senior member, call them names and all kinds of juvenile conduct. The end result is a degradation of the forums. People that want a more balanced forum simply leave the forums which ends up in a vicious cycle making the forums more dominated by the loud few while weeding out anyone with different thoughts or opinions. I have read lots of complaints from people the last few weeks saying they have no desire to read or post here all because of a few loud mouthed few. The end result is much less discussion.

Now does that mean that everyone who is a Lance hater is a Contadaor defender. No of course not. But it does seem like things break heavily along those lines. What I wanted to point out was that one can disapprove of LA's behavior and disapprove of AC's behavior. It does not have to be either/or. We can judge their behavior independently of each other. This seems like a shocking concept reading the forums the last few weeks. Maybe not the best way of pointing that out but I think we can all agree that we would like to see more thoughtful intelligent discussion and less emotional hate, name calling, juvenile conduct mainly based on factional grounds.

Edit: Interesting it seems some of the name calling posts I was talking about were deleted from this thread while I posted this. Nice to see

 

[MARKENNEN]

hi ! cycling fans

the fact that Alberto hooked in Astana ... Be not naive, he will remain at Astana for another year ...

look here - http://astanafans.com/alberto-kontador-i-aleksandr-vinokurov-nicca-2009.html

 

[ThisFrenchGuy]

Of course the first hurdle will be legal.

I still think you are very affirmative on his legal situation, considering the very little he or his brother has said. When Fran Contador says "Astana", does he mean the kazakh sponsor or Bruyneel who is legally "the Astana team" until the end of the season, as far as one can tell?

In modern sports, when an athlete really wants out there's little you can do. Even if you force his hand, you'll probably have an underperforming liability on your arms, and some damage control to do. I suspect whoever has the contract will at least consider releasing him against a generous compensation.

My problem is not really at considering Astana a possibility, but the way you have worded things irked me, as I made it clear (so I guess we'll just leave it at that), and I do not think this possibility is so strong that it warrants ending the discussion at that.

And to end my random ranting, I think the contract angle is much less interesting than the sport one (which was the focus at the beginning IMHO).

 

[MARKENNEN]

Perhaps I have his wishes as reality, but it seems to me that a new Spanish team for Сontador, left too little time,,,, Caisse d'Epargne!!?? too modest for a team Kontadora)))

 

[ThisFrenchGuy]

More contract fun! Yeah!

In the other thread about Vino, we were talking about Astana.

In short: riders are contracted to Bruyneel (and since Contador came from Disco, why wouldn't he?). However the Astana conglomerate pays the salaries through the KCF. Bruyneel seems to have no say in that (hence the protests by the team in 2008). And the kazakhs have the Pro Tour licence.

Even though the Contador contract runs to 2010 with JB, maybe it specifies Astana specifically.
Maybe Contador contract specifies something about what kind of races he is entitled to, or about riding for a PT team (Boulder made that speculation).
JB is not paying Contador out of its pocket. Remuneration might be a different contract to the KCF and Astana. Even if Contador is contracted to Olympus, there's probably some specifics about the kind of pays he get. Will Radio Shack sets the bill? Or even... can they afford? Do JB and LA really wants him around anyway?

Considering the complexity of Astana setup, there's many things that could potentially make the contract void. Maybe Astana or Olympus lawyers were very crafty when they did the contract, so it is not impossible that Contador could be tied to someone, but I seriously believes he will move neither to Astana 2010 or RS.

 

[lagartija]

Back to his mamma. Espana is calling,
Yellow jersey and red face after el outburst suits him.

seems to me the same can be said about Armstrong,run run away, back to the comfort of lancedom.......sans yellow jersey of coarse

 

[lagartija]

hi ! cycling fans

the fact that Alberto hooked in Astana ... Be not naive, he will remain at Astana for another year ...

look here - http://astanafans.com/alberto-kontador-i-aleksandr-vinokurov-nicca-2009.html

thanks, the pics are great
does'nt mean a thing though.....Vino is actually very cultured and speaks spanish descently, for that matter Berto speaks english fairly well also, i believe the contador contingent is looking for a legitimate contender in terms of his TDF support, and also an extremely professional working organization.for that reason Garmin or for that matter Rabobank cant be left out of the equation.
also the Santander team, at least this is the story from Spain wont be ready to launch in jan. but may take over the Caisse sponsorship begining 2011