Armstrong on Contador feud

In an exclusive interview with Eurosport, seven-times Tour winner Armstrong revealed the extent of the rift, which affected the entire team during the three-week race.

The American said: "I think there was certainly a real tension. It was not only tension between myself and (Contador). I mean other people were involved in the tensions and there were quiet dinner tables more than once.

"It's not anything that's I've ever experienced before but we did our job, and it ended up being OK."

Contador, the eventual race-winner, went into the Tour as de facto team leader, but was unhappy at Armstrong's apparent refusal to defer to him, and his determination to challenge for the yellow jersey.

The Spaniard proved too strong for the 37-year-old Armstrong, who finished third on the podium, with Andy Schleck splitting the two Astana riders.

After the race, Contador said his relationship with Armstrong was "zero" and added: "The days in the hotel were harder than those on the road."

However, Armstrong pointed out that conflict did not affect the team's results, with the German Andreas Kloden making it three Astana riders in the top six.

Going in everybody thought that it was an impossible recipe, an impossible combination but in fact it wasn't: if things would have been a little bit different, I think that there is a strong possibility that we could have 3 riders in the top 3!

Hopes of an Astana one-two-three faded on stage 17, when Kloden was dropped by a Contador attack - a move for which sporting director Johan Bruyneel criticised the Spaniard.

Armstrong credited his long-time team boss Bruyneel, who will leave Astana with the American at the end of the year to join the newly-formed Radio Shack team.

"I think that the main issue is that Bruyneel is smart, that Bruyneel knows how to manage the team, the tactics and conserve the energy that we need to, but also blow apart the race," Armstrong said.

Although he is creeping closer to 40, he is clear about his main objective for 2010: "My goal is to win the Tour.

"I will go in confident but also I will go in knowing realistically that (Contador) is very good. But I think in the same time there are two things: number one I will be better next year than I was this year because of the season under my belt, the Giro, the Tour, all of the training, all of the others races will help me next year.

"And there are other things that can improve for the next year if we look at the training side of things; we looked at technical aspects with the bike, the position and other aspects. All of those things can improve.

"I don't know if I will be good enough to beat Alberto but I'll try."