Tour de France favourite Alberto Contador yesterday played down his rivalry with Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, insisting he was shutting himself off from a saga he believes has been hyped up by the media.
Tour de France favourite Alberto Contador yesterday played down his rivalry with Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, insisting he was shutting himself off from a saga he believes has been hyped up by the media.
The debate over who is the boss of the Astana team is dominating this year's Tour, with 2007 champion Contador and seven-time winner Armstrong having both put themselves in a good position heading into the last two weeks.
The pair are just behind current leader Rinaldo Nocentini in the general classification as the field bid adieu to the Pyrenees, but that situation is not expected to last.
Armstrong claimed yesterday there was "tension" between him and Contador but the Spaniard refused to get drawn into the matter, preferring instead to concentrate on his own performance.
Contador said: "It's a subject which is starting to tire me a bit, it's too repetitive. For me there are no tensions.
I am totally relaxed and focused on the competition. I don't feel any tension. It's true that Armstrong has a media impact no other cyclist does, and that makes these things grow."
He added: "It's true that it would be better for us if there were not so many questions about this. The Tour is a tiring race and you can;t waste energy on things that don't concern the race.
"None of this affects me. It's true that the situation could be simpler, and I could focus exclusively on my pedalling. But my objective is to focus on the race and shut myself off from the rest."
Contador is six seconds behind Nocentini and two seconds ahead of Armstrong, who is third, in the overall standings. Contador showed on Friday, in the climb up Arcalis in Andorra when he blitzed his rivals with a late surge to the finish, that he's the man to beat this year.
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