Contador misses out on Laureus prize

Alberto Contador traveled all the way to St. Petersburg in Russia for the Laureus awards, but got beaten by Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton in the breakthrough category. The Laureus awards is an award honouring "the very best in sports."

But the talk for Contador was less about the (missed) award. The Astana rider confirmed once again that he has no intention to change teams, following the exclusion of Astana from the Tour de France. But he was not happy about the situation, telling todociclismo that it's a "sport without rules...and incomprehensible decisions and clear explanations." Despite the fact the whole team changed and has virtually nothing to do with the 2007 line-up, Contador seems to be resigned to the fact that he won't be able to defend his Tour title, although he is still hoping that maybe there will be some help from politics "with the means they have available."

Contador couldn't really think of who would be the strongest favourite for the next Tour and wasn't sure if he'd really follow it, stating that he will likely feel incredibly helpless "of not being able to race there." Contador will come up with a program for 2008 in the next few weeks, but his likely main targets will be the Olympic Games and the Vuelta a España.