Talking with the BBC, the new Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Sean Yates reflected on the last Tour de France edition and an unfair punishment which Lance Armstrong has taken for all riders of his generation.

Formerly hired as a sports director at Team Sky, Sean Yates denied he would use his insider knowledge of the British squad after he had accepted a job at Tinkoff-Saxo. He hinted, though, that Alberto Contador and Christopher Froome are worthy rivals and it would have been a two-man battle in last year's Tour de France if they had managed to stay on their bikes.

“Last year they both fell off which was not good for the Tour de France and that enabled [Vincenzo] Nibali to win but I think they are a level above,” Yates told BBC of Contador and Froome. “Hopefully they both stay on their bikes this year and it’s a good clean fight, and may the best man win.”

The Tinkoff-Saxo sports director also reflected on the USADA investigation on US Postal Service team, claiming that his former team-mate Lance Armstrong was unfairly forced to take all the guilt for widespread usage of banned methods from a decade ago.

“Lance was the big figure that they hunted down, along with others obviously, but he was the stand-out figure and he took the brunt of the publicity and the brunt of the blame, unfairly in my opinion,” Yates said. “Obviously people will make up their own minds somewhere down the road but that may be a few years to come yet.”