Hinault backs Contador to overcome Armstrong

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Five times Tour de France champion Bernard Hinault is backing Alberto Contador in his power struggle with Astana team mate Lance Armstrong.

"If I were Contador, I would attack Armstrong tomorrow in the climb to Arcalis to set the record straight and show him who's the boss," he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

The first mountain stage of the Tour de France takes place on Friday between Barcelona and Andorra-Arcalis and is expected sort out the rivalry between the two Astana leaders.

Armstrong, who narrowly missed his first yellow jersey since 2005 after Tuesday's team time trial, will lead Contador by 19 seconds in the overall standings at the start.

"To me, Contador is the natural team leader. He won the last three big Tours he entered and we don't know what Armstrong is really worth. We'll know tomorrow but for the time being, I believe Contador is stronger," Hinault said.

Hinault is familiar with such internal rivalries. In 1986, he was in the same team as Greg LeMond and he helped the American win his first of three Tour victories.

"I don't think Astana have been very fair on Contador. They hired him as their team leader and then out of the blue, they tell him, now you have to team up with Armstrong," he said.

"Then they kept criticizing him every time he faltered, like in Paris-Nice. It's not a great way to treat your leader" he added.

Armstrong, who lost 22 seconds to Contador in the opening individual time trial in Monaco, took 41 seconds back two days later when he joined the right break close to the finish in La Grande Motte.

"If Contador was their leader, they should never have let him down and they should not have cooperated in the break," Hinault said.

Looking back on his similar position in 1986, he insisted he had been true to his word.

"To be honest, I'm convinced I could have won this Tour, but I had promised Greg I would help him. And I was true to my word," he said.