Armstrong and Contador rivalry comes to the fore

The Tour de France is taking a rest day today, but the rivalry between top riders Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong shows no signs of abating. After nine stages, the pair, who both ride for the Kazakhstani team Astana, are separated by just two seconds. Contador is in second place, and Armstrong third.

But this doesn't fully tell the story of the battle between the Spaniard and the Texan. Armstrong (pictured above, right, with Contador trailing), who won a record seven consecutive Tours between 1999 and 2005, returned to professional cycling in January at the age of 37 after three years in retirement.

Before the Tour began, he was very relaxed about his comeback role, seeing himself as a team player, not the star of the outfit. Astana's director Johan Bruyneel, a close friend, saw Armstrong as his "insurance policy" in case the 26-year-old Contador - the Tour winner in 2007 - failed to win this year's event. Armstrong even joined without a salary, so happy was he to be back in the saddle.

But that was then, and this is now. After two stages of the race, trailing in an unaccustomed 10th spot, Armstrong joined a breakaway by the Columbia-HTC team on the third stage that saw him bolt away from Contador and take third place overall. Ever since, Armstrong has talked of himself and the Spaniard as equal stars in the Astana set-up.

On Friday it was Contador's turn to remind Armstrong of the team rankings, as he surged away from the American in the mountain leg in Andorra to reverse their positions at top of the table. Armstrong showed his annoyance at Contador's tactics - "It wasn't really to the plan, but I didn't expect him to go by the plan. It's no surprise. When you've got a guy away, like I said all along, my obligation is to the team" - conveniently ignoring his own breach of team discipline in Stage Three.

Their rivalry is now out in the open. "It's really a battle between Alberto and me now," Armstrong said last night. "The honest truth? There's a little tension at the [Astana] table. For me, Alberto is very strong, very ambitious, and I understand that. I've won this race a lot so I don't care if I come second or third or fifth. It's OK. It's honestly OK. I try to relax and keep the atmosphere as cool as I can."

To add to the tension, Contador is widely expected to leave Astana at the end of the season, while Armstrong told the France-2 TV station that he was planning on extending his comeback into next year.