“I got the call — from Johan Bruyneel, our team manager at Astana — that I had been waiting for. As I had feared, his message was that I wasn't going to the Tour this year. Many reasons were given, but all I really heard was that there would be no Tour de France for me.
“Politics seemed to once again be what was holding me back from doing what I love, racing at the top of my sport. Johan gave me many reasons why he couldn't take me, and all of them made sense to me from a political standpoint, but absolutely no sense from a straight up who deserves to go standpoint.”
— Chris Horner writing about his disappointment in not being chosen to ride alongside Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer in the 2009 Tour de France. A native of Bend, Oregon, Horner's Freewheeling column appears in the Oregonian.
Horner doesn't blame Bruyneel, whose “hands were tied.”
Each team in the Tour de France can take a nine-man squad to the three-week race that begin July 4 in Monaco.
Four positions went to Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden — all who have finished on the podium in previous Tours.
Haimar Zubeldia and Yaroslav Popovych, both also with extensive Tour experience, were chosen as domestiques as was Gregory Rast, described by Horner as a big guy who could help on the flat stages.
That leaves two spots. Astana's sponsors are based in Kazahkstan, so one cyclist had to come from that country. It was Dmitriy Muravyev.
The final position went to Sergio Paulinho, a Portuguese cyclist described as one of team leader Contador's favorites.
Upon hearing the news, Horner says he asked to be released from the team so he could possibly get picked up by another Tour de France team. Bruyneel wouldn't agree to it. Horner closes his column by saying he loves the team and will be happy to finish the season on it.
I can imagine Horner's disappointment in not being chosen to race in the Tour de France. He has worked hard in support of Armstrong and Leipheimer this year and has raced in the Tour previously, most notably as a member of the Davitamon-Lotto and Predictor-Lotto teams. He won the inaugural Tour de Georgia in 2003 and nearly won a stage of the Tour de France in 2005.
At 37, he might not get too many more chances.
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