--- title: "Alberto Contador: from grand tours to a team and Aurum" description: Seven grand tours, a 2012 CAS ban, then a foundation team that won at the Giro and Aurum bikes with Ivan Basso. What a slow-built pipeline teaches a board. url: https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/alberto-contador/ language: en-GB type: article author: Linus Murphy author_url: https://linusmurphy.com/about/ published: 2026-10-15 modified: 2026-11-06 --- [Peloton to boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/) # Alberto Contador: grand tours, then a team and a bike brand with Ivan Basso By [Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/about/) • 10 min read Spain · Fundación Contador teams (Eolo-Kometa, Polti Kometa); Aurum Bikes (with Ivan Basso) · Professional cycling teams and high-end bicycles ![Alberto Contador at the 2015 Tour de France team presentation](https://linusmurphy.com/images/peloton/alberto-contador.webp) ## Achievements - [Tour de France general classification, 2007 and 2009](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Contador) - [Giro d'Italia, 2008 and 2015](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Contador) - [Vuelta a España, 2008, 2012 and 2014](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Contador) - [Winner of all three Grand Tours](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Contador) Alberto Contador’s second career is a pipeline, not a signature. Since 2013 his foundation has built a ladder from a junior team to a ProTeam that won on the Zoncolan at the 2021 Giro. In 2020 he and Ivan Basso launched Aurum, a high-end bike brand. Both rest on the same partnership. Both businesses are on the public record. A board member would ask: what did he build, how, with whom, and what can a chief executive take from it? ## What did Contador win, and what was taken away? Seven Grand Tours: the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009, the Giro d’Italia in 2008 and 2015, and the Vuelta a España in 2008, 2012 and 2014. His 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro were stripped after a 2012 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. [Cycling Weekly’s retirement report](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/alberto-contador-retire-vuelta-espana-345458) sets out the arc. He turned professional in 2003 with ONCE. His career took off with Discovery Channel in 2007, when he won Paris–Nice and the Tour. In 2008, his first year with Astana, he won the Giro and the Vuelta. A second Tour followed in 2009. [BBC Sport reported on 6 February 2012](https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/16905217) that CAS had banned him for two years after a positive test for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour. He lost that Tour title and, under UCI rules, his 2011 wins, including the Giro. The ban was backdated to 25 January 2011 and ran until 5 August 2012. He maintained the finding came from contaminated meat; the panel said a contaminated food supplement was the more likely cause. That is the outcome. He came back later in 2012 and won the Vuelta twice more and the Giro once. He announced his retirement on 7 August 2017 in an Instagram video: “I say this happy, without sadness.” His last race was the 2017 Vuelta. [Cyclingnews reported](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-ends-career-with-fairytale-solo-vuelta-a-espana-stage-win/) that he won stage 20 alone on the Angliru, finished fourth overall, and said he now had his “life ahead” of him “to do other things I really want.” ### Career-to-business timeline | Year | Racing | Business | | --- | --- | --- | | 2003 | Turns professional with ONCE | None | | 2007–2009 | Wins the Tour (2007, 2009), Giro and Vuelta (2008) | None | | 2012 | CAS bans him; 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro stripped; returns and wins the Vuelta | None | | 2013 | Still racing | Foundation project starts with a junior team | | 2014–2015 | Wins the Vuelta (2014) and the Giro (2015) | No public milestone I could source | | 2017 | Retires after the Vuelta, winning on the Angliru | Kometa joins as sponsor | | 2018 | Retired | Continental team launched | | 2020 | Retired | Aurum launched with Basso on 29 September; ProTeam set up for 2021 | | 2021 | Retired | Eolo-Kometa rides the Giro on a wildcard; Fortunato wins on the Zoncolan | | 2023 | Retired | Aurum Manto gravel bike; Polti signed as title sponsor from 2024 | ## Who is Ivan Basso, and why does the partnership matter? Basso is an Italian who won the Giro twice. He was Contador’s rival, then his teammate, and is now his partner in both the team and Aurum. Basso explained the history to [Cyclingnews in December 2020](https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/contador-and-bassos-eolo-kometa-team-first-to-hit-the-road-for-2021/): “we were both rivals and teammates,” most recently at Saxo Bank, Basso’s last team before he retired in 2015. “That has allowed us to forge a strong relationship, one that’s grown and gained in depth over the years,” he said. [BikeRadar](https://www.bikeradar.com/news/aurum-magma) adds that the two spent the end of their careers at Trek-Segafredo, Contador racing and Basso in the team’s management. Basso has his own record. On 15 June 2007 the Italian cycling federation gave him the maximum two-year ban over the Operación Puerto blood-doping affair, as [BBC Sport reported](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6693357.stm). He admitted “attempted doping” and said he never went through with it. The ban ended on 24 October 2008. So this is a partnership of two founders with public sanctions on file. I state that because a sponsor, a customer or a recruit will read it anyway. What interests me is the choice. Contador did not hire a celebrity ambassador or a stranger with a spreadsheet. He chose a peer who had raced and won Grand Tours, knew the calendar, and knew exactly which shortcuts the sport offers. [Jonathan Vaughters also built a team organisation with his own racing past on the record](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/jonathan-vaughters/). The lesson in both cases is not that the past disappears. It is that the organisation has to be built well enough to stand next to it. ## How did a foundation become a professional team? One level at a time, over eight years. The project started with a junior team in 2013, added a Continental team in 2018 and became a ProTeam, registered in Italy as Eolo-Kometa, in 2021. Fran Contador, Alberto’s brother and the general manager, gave the dates in a [foundation statement on 10 February 2021](https://fundacionalbertocontador.org/en/the-eolo-kometa-cycling-team-promoted-by-the-contador-foundation-receives-an-invitation-to-ride-the-giro-ditalia-2021/): “For me to be in a Giro d’Italia in 2021 after having started this whole project in 2013 with a junior team is something I still find hard to believe.” Note the year. Contador was still racing in 2013. He started the pipeline four years before he needed it. [Cyclingnews’s December 2020 feature](https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/contador-and-bassos-eolo-kometa-team-first-to-hit-the-road-for-2021/) describes the structure. Basso, Contador and Fran ran the ProTeam jointly. The foundation, the under-23 team and the juniors stayed in Pinto, Contador’s home town. The ProTeam was based in Busto Arsizio, in northern Italy, where the title sponsor Eolo had its base, and registered in Italy. Basso had overseen the foundation’s levels above under-23. The ladder was real. Seven of the 20 Eolo-Kometa riders came from the previous Continental team, and five of those had been in a lower foundation team. Some had first joined through a “Selection Campus” for the junior squad. Staff were to move between the under-23 team and the ProTeam during the season to pass on practice in both directions. The money came in stages. A [team statement from November 2023](https://teampoltivisitmalta.com/en/in-2024-team-polti-kometa-will-be-the-new-name-of-ivan-basso-and-alberto-contador-cycling-project/) credits Kometa, a food company and a sponsor since 2017, with making the 2018 move to Continental level possible. Polti, a steam-cleaning brand, signed a three-season deal as title sponsor from 2024. Basso set the tone for the sponsors in 2020: “they want to create a project which has a chance of flourishing in the mid-to-long term. So that means we’ll have to be patient.” Sean Yates, the directeur sportif, put the budget plainly: “we’ll try to do what the WorldTour teams do on a lesser budget.” I could not find a public budget figure for any season, and I will not estimate one. Compare [Fabian Cancellara, who also moved from racing into owning a team](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/fabian-cancellara/). The point of comparison is the sequence. Contador did not buy a finished team. He grew one from juniors, which is slower, cheaper at each step and much harder to fake. ## What did the team prove at the 2021 Giro? That a development pipeline can win at the top level. Eolo-Kometa rode the 2021 Giro on a wildcard, and Lorenzo Fortunato won stage 14 on the Zoncolan, the first win of his career. The [Giro invitation came in February 2021](https://fundacionalbertocontador.org/en/the-eolo-kometa-cycling-team-promoted-by-the-contador-foundation-receives-an-invitation-to-ride-the-giro-ditalia-2021/), making the team one of 23 at the start. A team outside the WorldTour lives on invitations. As Cyclingnews put it in December 2020, “it is the organisers who will be calling the shots.” [Cyclingnews reported the stage on 22 May 2021](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fortunato-savours-debut-giro-ditalia-win-for-him-and-eolo-kometa/). Fortunato, 25, went clear 2.3 kilometres from the top and won by 26 seconds. It was the team’s first win since a stage of the under-23 Giro the previous year. Basso had won on the same climb in 2010. Fortunato gave the credit to management: “Ivan took me to one side this morning in the team bus, told me to go in the break, get onto the Zoncolan and win, and that’s what I did,” he said. “I think he believed in me more than I did.” He added that the team had put him under no pressure. That quote is a leadership lesson in miniature. A clear instruction, given privately, with visible belief and no added pressure. It is the opposite of many morning briefings, which run long on targets and short on a specific job for a specific person. ## What is Aurum, and what did it launch? Aurum is a high-end bike brand that Contador and Basso launched on 29 September 2020 with the Magma road bike. In April 2023 it added the Manto, its first gravel bike. [BikeRadar’s launch report](https://www.bikeradar.com/news/aurum-magma) says the project began more than two years before launch, with a new engineering team split across Spain and Italy. It listed the claims: Contador Everested the bike in final testing; pro riders had covered more than 500,000km on it; complete bikes started at €9,799 and the frameset at €4,099; a 54cm frame weighed a claimed 805g. [CapoVelo](https://capovelo.com/alberto-contador-and-ivan-basso-unveil-new-aurum-bike-brand/) put complete bikes at €9,800 to €12,000 depending on the build. The design choices tell you how the founders think. They used a standard stem and a standard 27.2mm round seatpost so riders could fit their own parts. “This gives all of the choices to the rider, not the company,” Contador told BikeRadar. They also refused to chase the lowest weight: “we would have a lighter bike, but never a better bike.” Those are product claims at a launch, and I will not certify the 805 grams. What I will say is that pricing at the top of the market was a decision, not an accident. BikeRadar reported that Aurum would sell direct, that a cheaper bike was being looked at, and that a gravel bike would come next. The gravel bike arrived on 28 April 2023. [Bikerumor](https://bikerumor.com/aurum-manto-carbon-race-gravel-bike/) described the Manto as Aurum’s first move away from tarmac, unveiled in Mallorca, at €3,500 as a frameset or €4,000 with cockpit and seatpost. Contador described it as built in the same spirit as the Magma and meant to sit beside it in the catalogue. I could not find public figures for Aurum’s revenue, units sold or the ownership split between the founders. A grand tour rider putting his name on bikes is not new. [Eddy Merckx opened a bike factory in 1980](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/eddy-merckx/). The difference here is two founders, a separate engineering team, and a professional squad to ride the product. ## How do the team and the bike brand work together? The ProTeam rides Aurum bikes, so the brand gets a race-level test bench and a shop window, and the team gets equipment designed by its own managers. Cyclingnews confirmed in December 2020 that Eolo-Kometa would use Aurum. That is a sensible fit. It also means the same two people sit on both sides of a supply relationship. I have no information about the commercial terms between the team and the brand, and I am not suggesting anything is wrong with them. I am saying what a board would ask. Who sets the price the team pays for bikes? What happens to the team if Aurum needs cash, or to Aurum if a title sponsor leaves? Who decides when the riders say the bike is wrong? Linked businesses run on trust between founders. They last when the terms are written down where an independent person can read them. ## What transfers from a grand tour career to running an organisation, and what does not? Patience and team selection transfer. The protected leader does not: in a company, the organisation has to work without the star in the room. What transfers: - **Three-week thinking.** A Grand Tour is won over 21 stages, not one. The foundation’s eight-year climb to the Giro is the same patience applied to an organisation. - **Choosing the people around you.** A grand tour leader’s result depends on the riders beside him. Choosing Basso, Yates and his brother was the same skill. If you want a method for it, start with [getting good people around you](https://linusmurphy.com/guide/getting-good-people-around-you/get-good-people-around-you/). - **Knowing the work in detail.** Riders who argue about seatposts and stays make better product decisions than founders who approve mood boards. What does not transfer: - **The protected leader.** A team rides for its leader. A company cannot. The Fortunato win mattered because it came from a rider the system developed, not from the founder. - **Results you can argue about.** Stripped titles stay stripped. In business, reputation is built on what customers and sponsors can check. - **Control of the calendar.** A rider chooses his races. A ProTeam waits for invitations and a bike brand waits for buyers. If your first career includes a public record, or you are building a second one with a partner whose career does, Contador is a useful model. Build slowly, and let the organisation prove itself. That transition is the work I do in [my coaching for athletes moving into business](https://linusmurphy.com/services/from-elite-sport-to-the-boardroom/). The other riders in [From the peloton to the boardroom](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/) show the same test from different angles. What leaders can take from this - Build the pipeline one level at a time. The team took eight years to get from juniors to a Giro start. - Co-found with a peer who knows the job, and make the roles explicit. - State the public record once, then do the work in front of you. - Price and design choices are positioning. Make them on purpose. - When two of your businesses trade with each other, put the terms where a board can see them. ## Questions I am asked **What did Alberto Contador build after he stopped racing?** Two things, both with Ivan Basso. The Fundación Contador team, which grew from a junior squad in 2013 to a ProTeam in 2021, and Aurum, a high-end bike brand launched on 29 September 2020 with the Magma road bike. **Why include a rider with a doping case?** Because the businesses are real and the record is public. In February 2012 the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Contador for two years over a clenbuterol finding at the 2010 Tour, which cost him the 2010 Tour and the 2011 Giro. I state it once and move on. **Is Aurum Contador’s company alone?** No. The launch coverage describes Aurum as a brand Contador and Basso created together. I could not find a public figure for the ownership split, revenue or units sold. **How much did the first Aurum bike cost?** BikeRadar reported complete Magma bikes from €9,799 and a frameset at €4,099 in September 2020, with a claimed 805g frame weight for a 54cm size. **What has the team achieved?** Its biggest result so far was at the 2021 Giro d’Italia, where Lorenzo Fortunato won stage 14 on the Zoncolan for Eolo-Kometa, the first win of his career. The team raced that Giro on a wildcard invitation. **What should a former athlete copy from Contador?** The patience. He and his brother started with juniors in 2013, while he was still racing, and moved up one level at a time as sponsors allowed. Copy that sequence, not the palmarès. ## Sources 1. [Basso handed two-year doping ban](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6693357.stm) — BBC Sport, 15 June 2007 2. [Alberto Contador handed two-year drugs ban](https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/16905217) — BBC Sport, 6 February 2012 3. [Alberto Contador to retire after Vuelta a España](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/alberto-contador-retire-vuelta-espana-345458) — Cycling Weekly, 7 August 2017 4. [Contador ends career with fairytale solo Vuelta a Espana stage win](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-ends-career-with-fairytale-solo-vuelta-a-espana-stage-win/) — Cyclingnews, 9 September 2017 5. [Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso's Aurum Magma looks good (and expensive)](https://www.bikeradar.com/news/aurum-magma) — BikeRadar, 29 September 2020 6. [Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso Unveil New Aurum Bike Brand](https://capovelo.com/alberto-contador-and-ivan-basso-unveil-new-aurum-bike-brand/) — CapoVelo, 29 September 2020 7. [Contador and Basso invest in the long term at upscaled Eolo-Kometa](https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/contador-and-bassos-eolo-kometa-team-first-to-hit-the-road-for-2021/) — Cyclingnews, 11 December 2020 8. [The EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team promoted by the Contador Foundation receives an invitation to ride the Giro d'Italia 2021](https://fundacionalbertocontador.org/en/the-eolo-kometa-cycling-team-promoted-by-the-contador-foundation-receives-an-invitation-to-ride-the-giro-ditalia-2021/) — Fundación Alberto Contador, 10 February 2021 9. [Fortunato savours debut Giro d'Italia win for him and Eolo-Kometa](https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fortunato-savours-debut-giro-ditalia-win-for-him-and-eolo-kometa/) — Cyclingnews, 22 May 2021 10. [Aurum Manto Races Off-Road on Ultra-Premium, Light Carbon Gravel Bike](https://bikerumor.com/aurum-manto-carbon-race-gravel-bike/) — Bikerumor, 28 April 2023 11. [In 2024, Team Polti Kometa will be the new name of Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador cycling project](https://teampoltivisitmalta.com/en/in-2024-team-polti-kometa-will-be-the-new-name-of-ivan-basso-and-alberto-contador-cycling-project/) — Team Polti VisitMalta, 7 November 2023 ![Portrait of Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/images/portraits/linus-headshot.jpg) **[Linus Murphy](https://linusmurphy.com/about/)** Elite executive coach [Book a 30-minute strategy call](https://calendly.com/linusmurphy-coaching/30min) Other riders: [Eddy Merckx](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/eddy-merckx/); [Greg LeMond](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/greg-lemond/); [Sean Kelly](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/sean-kelly/); [Chris Boardman](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-boardman/); [Sir Chris Hoy](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/chris-hoy/); [Fabian Cancellara](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/fabian-cancellara/); [Tom Boonen](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/tom-boonen/); [Jonathan Vaughters](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/jonathan-vaughters/); [Pat McQuaid](https://linusmurphy.com/peloton-to-boardroom/pat-mcquaid/). ## The jersey is not the strategy If you raced at a serious level and now hold a chair — or you are about to — I will work the identity and the operating system. 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