The Belgian Johan Bruyneel , director of the Astana team in the Tour de France 2009 , with the victory of Alberto Contador in an edition marked by the controversy of coexistence with his then American teammate Lance Armstrong , assured that "that year there was no conspiracy " against the Spanish cyclist.

Bruyneel wanted to go over to a statement by Contador to youtuber Valentí San Juan in which he assured that in that year he suffered various obstacles from the team to favor Armstrong's leadership to his detriment. The Belgian ex-technician clarified his position on the podcast El Leñero .

"I do not know why that Tour is now topical without Alberto not having told anything before. Each one has his version but I felt a little alluded to. I did not like the tone he used to give his version of the 2009 Tour."

Bruyneel, in a measured tone, wanted to review the comments made by Contador. "I don't want to attack him, he has been a great champion, the best by stages of his generation in the first half of his career, then he had the misfortune to meet Froome, but for me he has been one of the best in history in races for stages . "

The then head of Astana admitted that he knew in advance that it would be a difficult Tour within the team, since the objective was to win and at the same time manage 2 egos of champions. "He just wanted to win the Tour , he didn't want to lose it because of us. He was the director of Astana, not Contador or Armstrong, but our card was Contador because he was the best, he won the 2007 Tour and the 2008 Tour and Tour. I told Armstrong that at a meeting, and he said, at 38, "we'll see ."

On the fourth stage of that edition, when Contador was cut in a fan losing 40 seconds with the main group of Armstrong, the Belgian coach said that "the situation was good for the team, since we had 4 runners. We went ahead even without Accountant, anyone would have done the same. "

After explaining that he did not take Benjamin Noval , Contador's trusted man, for technical reasons, Bruyneel explained the difficulty in handling the egos of "two alpha males". "Between them it was not an easy relationship, I saw it from the Teide rally, the first day at breakfast there was not a single greeting between them . However, that Tour was not as dramatic as it has been written in the Spanish press. I am disappointed with the interview by Alberto Contador "

Bruyneel, who lives in Madrid, explained in El Leñero that "both Contador and Armstrong were two winners of an easy nature." The difference in that with Armstrong he had a close personal relationship and with Contador was more professional, but neither was easy. "

As Contador explained in the interview, he had to buy a lenticular wheel for the Monaco time trial on his own , since the team did not have that material at his disposal, but for his fellow-rival.

"There was plenty of material for everyone, we had 40 wheels. That season Armstrong ran free because there was no money for him. He wore the Astana jersey, but he was free to run with his bicycle and his own designed components. He wanted to internationalize his Foundation, and he even auctioned off his Paris bike for $ 500,000. If Alberto thought the wheels were not good and wanted others, I don't know that, I don't know any more details. "

Contador also assured that his bicycle slept in his mechanic's room, an aspect that bothered Bruyneel the most. " The bike would be with his mechanic, but because he would see danger, that is paranoia , in which case my team could do something against Contador's bike, it is ridiculous. Alberto isolated himself due to his mistrust of me, but the team did not he could do anything to his bike. "

For Bruyneel "the environment of 3-4 people had to do with the situation that occurred. Contador was young and I did not take him into account . He won because he was the strongest, he distrusted the team, and that is to think in a very extreme way "

Finally, Bruyneel referred to the seventh stage in Andorra . According to Contador he disobeyed the orders to "go slowly and calmly", so he decided to attack in surprise of the team. "I did not say that we were going to go slowly on the stage. I thought the goal was yellow in Paris and we should save strength, I did not want to take yellow to punish the team, but slowly and calmly I never said it."

"If he felt so strong, he should have told me that he did not agree and that he would like to do something else, but he did not say anything and in Ordino he attacked without warning his companions and while Kloeden was shooting, who got off the hook and lost time. He did not warn and the team got mad. "

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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