Contador to leave Astana at the end of the season

TOUR de France champion Alberto Contador will leave his Astana team at the end of the season, he confirmed on Wednesday.

MOVING ON: Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will leave his Astana team when his contract expires at the end of the season (Getty Images)

The 27-year-old put the finishing touches to his third Tour de France victory on Sunday but has decided it is time to move on from the Kazakh-funded team.

"Although the position of both parties was not so far from each other, the team wanted to know urgently whether or not [he would renew his contract]," said a statement from Contador's press officer.

"Alberto Contador has rejected the ultimatum of Astana."

Contador joined Astana in 2008, having won his first Tour in 2007 with the Discovery Channel team, but could not defend his crown after race organisers Amaury Sport Organisation, refused to invite Astana due to their doping history.

In 2009 the Spaniard clinched his second Tour de France win, his first with Astana, despite a drawn-out battle for team leadership with the returning seven-time winner Lance Armstrong.

The following season Armstrong established Team RadioShack and took practically everything of note with him from Astana, including team principal Johan Bruyneel and riders Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden.

It was widely rumoured that Contador wanted to leave Astana a year ago after the team's strength had dwindled, amid a potential move to Garmin-Transitions as a replacement for Bradley Wiggins, who joined Team Sky.

But Contador ended up seeing out the final year on his contract and clinching his third Tour de France win this year, taking victory ahead of Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck by 39 seconds.

Contador has the flawless record of taking victory in every Grand Tour in which he has competed, including his three Tour de France wins, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, both in 2008.