Contador analyzes Gianetti's rebuke of Del Toro and compares the UAE situation to his own battle against Armstrong

During stage 11, Del Toro attacked in the final to chase down Richard Carapaz. He rode away from his rivals and Ayuso. Suddenly, the pink jersey wearer found himself with a handful of competitors ahead of his lead rider. "I saw that the other riders from our team weren't with me amid the chaos, and when I attacked and then looked back, I saw that my teammates weren't with me either," he said after the stage. "We all want to stay at the front of the classification, and in the end, we all finished without losing time. We want to keep playing with our manpower."

Team boss Mauro Gianetti rebuked Del Toro. Contador analyzed the situation on Eurosport. "The images of Gianetti and Del Toro speak volumes. At that moment, it wasn't clear what had happened: whether the order to stop came from the car, whether he had decided to brake himself, or whether Ayuso had said something over the radio. Mauro walked to him before he had spoken to the press to give him a few key phrases to make sure he wouldn't be taken by surprise."

Contador knows what it's like to be in a conflict within your own team. In 2009, while riding for Astana, he was on the same team as Armstrong. Both men wanted to win the Tour de France, and tensions ran high in La Grande Boucle. The Spaniard remembers the third stage, where the wind played a significant role. "At that moment, there was a split in the peloton, and I was surprised that my entire team—where I was theoretically the leader—cooperated in the front group, costing me time."

In that echelon stage, the Spanish climber lost 41 seconds, thanks to the sabotage of his team. Armstrong suddenly found himself third in the general classification, Contador fourth. "If you can understand that, I'd like an explanation. Fortunately, the people I trusted most came to my aid and took me straight to the bus. I knew the Tour was still long, with many stages to go."

Contador doesn't want to dwell on it too much because the situation at UAE Team Emirates seems completely different from his own. "Yesterday was one of those situations where many people wanted to express their opinion and turn it into controversy. That's why you have to stay calm and not add any more tension for the well-being of the whole team. In my opinion, they did a great job. Del Toro was correct in his statements, and they are handling it very well at the moment."