This should come as no surprise, as there were hints of discord throughout the Tour.  This is not likely to be the end of it either.  Expect this to intensify as time progresses.

There is an interesting piece on Contador in the latest issue of VeloNews. The article paints Lance as a controlling meglomaniac and Contador as a simple guy who only wants to ride his bike sans politics. Lance has Contador beat in the press as Lance understand the policitc involved.

It essentially points out that after Lance retired, Astana and Johan Bruyneel invested a lot into Contador and made a lot of promises to Contador since he was touted as the next rising star.  But the two never clicked like Bruyneel did with Lance. Now, with Lance back, Bruyneel is caught between a rock and a hard place with loyalties to both men.

Naturally, Bruyneel is going to stay with Lance and go over to Team Radio Shack as many are saying he will since he is quiting Astana at the end of this year. Bruyneel is leaving perhaps one of the best bike riders out in the cold as I doubt Lance will want Contador on "his" team.

I think that if Contador remains with Astana (it is said that he has a year or two remaining on his contract), then Contador's relationship with the returning Alexander Vinokourov will not be any better than with Lance and moreoever, the French may land up dis-inviting Astana with the known doper, Vinokourov on the team for 2010.

...ok, i realy have no idea about the sport, other what i glance in headlines, know lance, knew about the basics of this comeback story, but..they refer to armstrong & contador as team mates, & then refer to contadour as a spainard...in the tour de france...do they not race country vs country, but as paid sponsored teams? is this typ. in bike racing?

this Tour de France, the concept of "team" is quite flexible!

That a fancy french word for worker bees or bodygaurds. The worker bees/bodygaurds do all the heavy lifting and protect the leader so he doesn't have to work so hard and isn't burnt out by the end of each stage.They sacrafice themselves so the leader can win a stage or the entire race.  There is a slip stream effect that the worker bees/bodygaurds create so the leader doesn't kill himself. Kind of like drafting in Nascar. . One of the problems with team Astana was the infighting on who was the leader, Lance or Contador.  Next year Lance will ride for a team sponsored by Radio Shack.

I doubted if Vinokourov's return would work for Contador while at Astana.  After all, it is trading one strong personality (Armstrong) with another (Vinokourov).

If Contador does goes over to Garmin, then that will be the team to watch next year at the 2010 Tour.