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Spain's Alberto Contador - Source: Reuters
Spaniard Alberto Contador has had contact with Caisse d'Epargne, Quick Step, Garmin-Slipstream and Liquigas about riding for them next year, the Tour de France champion was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"Yes there are some (contacts) with those teams," Contador told Spanish sports daily As. "They are all good options for next year."
Contador is currently waiting for legal advice before deciding whether to quit his Astana team. He is under contract with the Kazakh-funded outfit until 2010 but they have not yet been granted a ProTour licence by the International Cycling Union (UCI) for next year.
Contador told As he might still opt to stay with Astana, although he said Caisse d'Epargne would be "an excellent option" because of the number of Spanish riders there.
"Even though they (Astana) don't yet have a licence, the new people seem serious to me," he said.
"There are still some very good riders at Astana and with a couple of reinforcements I can approach the Tour with guarantees. "Let's see what happens because we have to study everything carefully."
UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani said on saturday that Contador could leave Astana under the governing body's rules, which state that a rider is free to go if his team have not had their ProTour licence renewed by Oct. 20.
