For his highly publicised comeback in 2009, Lance Armstrong chose Team Astana, the racing team of his former sporting director Johan Bruyneel. With this transfer, the Kazakh team became a super team, with big names such as Alberto Contador, Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer already part of the squad. However, the many egos also offered potential for conflict, which became particularly apparent between Contador and Armstrong during the Tour de France. However, the success proved the team right: Contador won the yellow jersey, Armstrong came third and Astana secured the team classification.
However, the constellation was not to last. For 2010, Armstrong and Bruyneel founded their own racing team, RadioShack-Nissan, and took most of the riders with them to the new team. Contador, however, remained with Astana. A further collaboration with Armstrong was unthinkable for the Spaniard. "I want to be in a team that rides one hundred per cent for me," said Contador at the time. An overview of how the nine riders from Astana's Tour squad at the time have fared since then.
Alberto Contador
Contador is still a familiar face at the big races as a pundit on the TV channel Eurosport. At the 2009 Tour de France, however, the Spaniard himself was at the centre of discussions: On the one hand because of his performance, on the other because of his rivalry with Armstrong. The Spaniard claimed after the Tour that he had his most difficult days at the hotel. Contador added tellingly: "My relationship with Lance is non-existent. Even though he is a great champion, I have never admired him and never will."
In sporting terms, however, Contador was the outstanding figure of the 2009 Tour and dominated the competition not only in the mountains, but also in the time trial. In the end, he celebrated his second overall victory after 2007, although his performances at the time were overshadowed by suspicions of doping. However, there was no proof. A year later, Contador won the Tour of France again, but lost the overall victory in 2010 due to a doping finding. After his comeback, Contador won the Vuelta a Espana in 2012 and 2014 and the Giro d'Italia in 2015. He continued his career until 2017.
During his career, the now 42-year-old started a cycling academy with his foundation Fundacion Contador and its junior team, which has held a Pro Continental licence since 2021. Contador leads the team, which currently operates under the name Polti-Kometa, with his brother Francisco Contador and Ivan Basso. The team has already achieved two stage wins at the Giro d'Italia.
In addition to professional cycling, Contador is also active in amateur sport and organises the annual "Gran Fondo Alberto Contador" in Spain, in which around 4,000 amateur cyclists take part. Contador also founded the racing bike brand Aurum with Basso in 2020.
Lance Armstrong
After a three-year break, Armstrong was back in the peloton in 2009 at the age of 38. His goal of winning the Tour de France again was thwarted by his team-mate Contador of all people. Armstrong had to settle for third place in Paris. Overall, however, his return was not very successful - he ended his career for good in 2010.
He then came under fire from the US Anti-Doping Agency USADA, whose investigations centred on Armstrong's time at US Postal and his Tour victories from 1999 to 2005. From then on, more and more former team-mates incriminated Armstrong, leading to an indictment in 2012. In 2013, Armstrong confessed to doping in a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey: he had doped in all seven of his Tour victories. This was followed by the cancellation of his victories and a lifetime ban. The Texan also had to face numerous lawsuits from insurance companies and former partners, which brought him close to financial ruin.
In the meantime, however, Armstrong has built up a new successful existence. On the one hand, he earned his money as an investor, including backing the company Uber early on, and on the other, Armstrong founded the company WEDU in 2016, with which he entered the podcast business early on. The cycling format "The Move" in particular is still one of the most successful sports podcasts in the USA and has brought Armstrong many new brand partnerships.
Andreas Klöden
Today, the 49-year-old is a brand ambassador for the cycling company Schmolke, for which he organises racing bike events for amateur cyclists, among other things. However, Klöden rarely appears in public. He also has hardly any connections to professional cycling.
Klöden celebrated his greatest successes in the Team Telekom jersey: in 2004, as "crown prince", he outshone team-mate Jan Ullrich at the Tour de France and finished second behind Armstrong, and in 2006 he also finished third, which later became second after the disqualification of Tour winner Floyd Landis.
However, Klöden was accompanied by doping suspicions early on. In 2009, Klöden was accused of self-blood doping in the final report on the proceedings concerning the sports physicians at Freiburg University Hospital, who also looked after Team Telekom. Klöden denied this and temporarily boycotted the press. Investigation proceedings were later discontinued in return for payment.
As part of the strong Astana team of 2009, Klöden finished the Tour de France in sixth place. He then switched to Team RadioShack with Armstrong and ended his career in 2013.
Levi Leipheimer
The American left his mark on German cycling as captain of Team Gerolsteiners: he rode for Hans-Michael Holczer's team for two years and finished fifth in the Tour de France in 2005. In the 2009 Tour of France, Leipheimer was an important mountain helper for Astana, but had to leave the tour after the 12th stage due to a broken wrist.
Meanwhile, Leipheimer rode with Lance Armstrong for two years at US Postal from 2000 - and testified in 2012 as a key witness in the USADA investigation against Armstrong. Leipheimer admitted to having used Epo and autologous doping until 2007. He received a six-month ban.
His former team, Omega Pharma Quick-Step, subsequently parted ways with him. Leipheimer was unable to find a new team and declared the end of his career in May 2013. His results were retroactively cancelled until 2007 - including his third place at the 2007 Tour de France.
The 51-year-old first organised the "Levi's Granfondo" back in 2009, which now runs through the Sonoma County wine region and attracts over 7,000 amateur and amateur riders every year.
Dmitriy Muravyev
The Kazakh's name may no longer ring a bell for many cycling fans today. Muravyev took part in his first Tour de France in 2009 and moved on to Armstrong's new team Radioshack-Nissan with the majority of the team a year later. There he was part of the high-calibre Tour squad two more times. Muravyev's strength was the time trial and he won the Kazakh championship three times. In the grand tours, however, he was primarily valued as a helper.
He returned to Astana in 2012 and ended his career in 2014. He signed a third contract with Astana in 2020, this time as sporting director. He fulfilled this role until the end of the 2021 season, but nothing is publicly known about his future path.
Sergio Paulinho
After finishing his career, the Portuguese cyclist switched to cycle touring. Paulinho now organises and guides exclusive cycle tours through Portugal, Italy and France for the travel company inGamba.
He experienced his breakthrough at the age of 24 as a silver medallist at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, whereupon he signed a contract with Liberty Seguros. The now 44-year-old won a stage at both the 2006 Vuelta a Espana and the 2010 Tour de France. However, after the end of the Tinkoff team, Paulinho was only able to join the Portuguese Continental team Efapel in 2016. He continued his career there until 2021.
Yaroslav Popovych
After his active career, the Ukrainian has established himself as a sports director in professional cycling: since 2016, he has been fulfilling this role at Team Lidl-Trek, the current successor team to RadioShack-Nissan, which Armstrong founded in 2010. Popovych is now a regular participant in major races such as the Tour de France as sporting director. He ended his career after Paris-Roubaix 2016.
Popovych first caused a stir when he won the U23 world title in 2001 and confirmed his talent in 2003 when he took a surprising third place overall in the Giro d'Italia in the Landbouwkrediet jersey. A year later, he wore the pink jersey for two days and finished fifth.
At Discovery Channel, he was to become Lance Armstrong's successor from 2005. In his very first year, he won the young rider classification of the Tour of France in twelfth place overall, but was subsequently unable to live up to the high expectations - even though he won a Tour stage in 2006 and finished eighth in the classification in 2007. In the following years, the now 44-year-old grew into the role of a noble helper and road captain.
As Armstrong's former Discovery Channel team-mate, Popovych also testified in the USADA investigation in 2010, but denied any knowledge of doping practices within the team at the time. Popovych is currently involved in the Ukraine war by providing private aid in his home country and was even released from his duties by Lidl-Trek in 2022.
Gregory Rast
The Swiss also switched from the bike to the wheel as Sporting Director and has followed a similar path to Popovych: Rast also went straight from the end of his career in 2018 to sporting management at the American racing team. Prior to that, he drove for two years under Popovych as his superior.
Until 2018, Rast was part of the professional peloton for 17 years and established himself primarily as a helper. His greatest successes were winning the Swiss road championship in 2004 and 2006 and a stage win at the Tour de Suisse in 2013. However, the Flemish classics were always a focal point of his racing calendar - Rast was at the start of the Tour of Flanders 16 times.
Unsurprisingly, the now 44-year-old is now also responsible for the Pavé Classics for Lidl-Trek as Sports Director and works closely with riders such as Jasper Stuyven and Mads Pedersen.
Haimar Zubeldia
The Basque rider only ended his long career in 2017 at the age of 40, which had already brought him fifth place in the Tour de France in 2003. The 47-year-old then established himself as one of the most consistent and best cyclists in the peloton and achieved five more top ten finishes in the Tour of France. However, his consistency came at the expense of victories. As a result, Zubeldia always had the reputation of being a good but unremarkable rider. He only has three individual victories on his CV - two of which are overall successes in smaller tours.
Zubeldia's Instagram profile now lists him as a brand ambassador for the sports nutrition company Powerbar and the bicycle manufacturer Orbea. He is also said to work as a product developer for the clothing company Etxeondo and for Abus, a manufacturer of cycle helmets and locks. In the popular sports sector, he is involved in the Basque event "Haimar Zubeldia Klasikoa".
