Armstrong may have to accept support role at Astana

Hamburg - Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong may have to support his Astana team-mate Alberto Contador in next year's Tour, the team's cycling director Johan Bruyneel said.

"At the end of the day, the strongest rider will be supported, regardless of that person's name or what they've accomplished in the past," Bruyneel said on the team's website.

Contador won the 2007 Tour de France and followed that up by winning this year's Giro in Italy and Vuelta in Spain.

"Alberto is the best professional cyclist in the world," Bruyneel said. "The strongest rider will be supported."

Armstrong, 37, announced last month he was coming out of retirement to ride with the Astana team in 2009.

The US rider has meanwhile rejected a call to re-test urine samples from his first Tour de France win for the blood-boosting drug EPO.

Pierre Bordry, the head of the French anti-doping authority, had offered Armstrong a chance to retest his urine samples from the 1999 Tour to prove he was innocent of doping. (dpa)

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