Tour de France champion Alberto Contador (Astana) paid a visit to the RadioShack team bus before the start of stage 5 in Épernay this morning. The Spaniard was reportedly delivering gifts to both Lance Armstrong and director sportif Johan Bruyneel as a thank you gift for the part that they played in his Tour victory last year.
“Alberto had a present for us, a watch,” Bruyneel told Sporza. “Everybody in last year’s team had already had it, except Lance and I; it’s a nice gesture from him.”
It is traditional that winners of the Tour buy gifts for the team that helped them to get their victory. It’s possible that Armstrong and Bruyneel missed out on their watches when everybody else got theirs because of their reported no-show at Contador’s celebratory post-race party.
While Bruyneel was there to receive his gift in person, Armstrong was busy speaking to the press before the stage start. “There was a lot of press around our bus, and they speak to each other during the race,” Bruyneel explained.
Bruyneel was Contador’s director at the Astana team for three years, guiding him to all four of his Grand Tour wins: the Tours de France of 2007 and 2009, plus the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España in 2008. The Belgian left the team at the end of last season to join Armstrong’s new RadioShack team; they managed to take the entire Tour winning team with them, with the exception of Contador.
Although Armstrong has confirmed that this year’s race will be his final Tour, it is highly unlikely that Contador will be rejoining Bruyneel at the team. “Will Contador ride for me again? That seems impossible to me,” he confirmed.
Relations between Contador and Armstrong famously soured during last year’s Tour, as they both made own their bids for victory. Exactly how this gift will be received by the American, and how it will affect their relationship during the race, is not known.