So Is Alberto Contador Just A Jerk, Or What?

Alberto Contador is currently wearing the Yellow Jersey at the Tour de France, looking for his third championship. Sounds pretty sweet right? Well the problem is, no one seems to like the Spanish cycling stud.

Last year Contador lashed out at teammate and favorite son (and main rival at the time) Lance Armstrong in the middle of the Tour. Contador broke a golden rule by publicly ripping a teammate in the middle of a heated race. Armstrong responded with some pointed words of his own for the young Spaniard.

As if that wasn’t enough, this year Contador took the Yellow Jersey (signifying the overall lead of the Tour) from Luxembourgish (yes that is the correct term, I looked it up) cyclist Andy Schleck when Schleck suffered a damaged bicycle chain. Etiquette at the Tour states that other riders are supposed to wait if the leader suffers a misfortune that is not his fault, like a crash or equipment failure. Contador did not observe that etiquette, and instead left Schleck in the dust.

Schleck entered the stage with a 31 second lead and finished the day behind Contador by eight seconds. When Contador took the podium to accept the Yellow Jersey, the crowd actually booed him, which is unheard of at the Tour de France.

Contador claims he didn’t know the extent of Schleck’s mechanical problem, but he has teammates and team leaders all over the course. Are we to believe that no one told him what was going on?

The two riders have since kissed and made up (not literally) and everything appears to be OK. Well of course everything is OK for Contador, he’s about to win another Tour de France. Schleck appears headed to a second straight second place finish.

While Contador is certainly a respected champion, he just seems to rub everyone the wrong way.

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