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Astana's Andreas Klöden adapts to a new team leader
Having ridden in the service of Jan Ullrich for so many years at the Telekom and T-Mobile teams, and been an omnipresent in the constant battle with Lance Armstrong for the Tour De France title, Andreas Klöden now finds himself doing much the same job for his former rival at Astana. The German, however, has no reservations about the change of allegiance.
“It’s no problem. It’s a job. I don’t know Lance as well as I know Levi or Alberto but he is friendly. I think that I can learn a lot from him. He is very, very professional. Already you can see it here at the training camp. He worked so hard for this comeback and I think it’s good for the two of us. It’s good for him. It’s good for me too.
"If you are around the best, you become the best you can become. Maybe next year or in Tours to come, I will have a chance for myself. It‘s no problem riding for Lance instead of Jan, you know, they are different people but, no problem.”
Although Klöden was touted as a future Tour winner after he finished on the podium in 2006, a combination of his arrival at the super team of Astana and some injury problems have recently reduced him to the role of super domestique. It’s a role he says he is more than happy in.
“I have to give my best for the team and if I am 100 percent at the Tour, and I can help Lance or Alberto try to win, that’s nice for me. I will get my chance, we have a lot of opportunities you know. Okay, I think all the teams will be looking at the Astana team. I think we have all the best riders for races like the Tour, and the Vuelta.
"For me it is not so important that I win the races. I have fun cycling and I have a good team. We have a lot of fun. Nobody is perfect, everybody can have a bad day but you could see at the Giro and the Vuelta we all stuck together, and we won two big races.”
