Alberto Contador’s final kick today inside the last 3K surely cemented his place atop the podium in Paris this year. But it also spoke volumes about what kind of teammate Contador is, at least within his current team.

Andrew Hood talked about it in his lastest VeloNews contribution, and needless to say, juicy quotage abounded.

Let’s set the scene: Contador, accompanied by the Schlecks and teammate Andres Kloden, reeled in Thor Hushovd and set themselves to finish top four on the stage. Then, with about 2K to go, Contador kicked into high gear, taking the Schleck Bros. with him and leaving struggling teammate Kloden behind.

Andy Schleck took the stage, and he and his brother moved to second and third overall, knocking Lance Armstrong off the podium and seriously denting Astana’s chances of putting three riders on the podium.

The issue at hand is this: Did Contador need to attack? With a comfortable lead of over 1:30 and possessing, at worst, top-five time trialing ability, not likely.

Johan Bruyneel certainly didn’t think so.

“I told him you don’t have to attack to win the Tour de France today, because the difference was there to Wiggins,” Bruyneel said after the stage. “It’s a bit of a pity that Andreas couldn’t hang on, because I think we could have been first, second and third on GC, and instead, we are first, fourth and fifth.”

And then he continued.

“I had advice not to do. He didn’t need to go,” Bruyneel said. “It was clear that the Schleck brothers would go full gas to the summit.

Lance Armstrong refrained, instead elect to “bite his tongue” when questioned about the incident. But even his tepid refusal suggests a questioning of the move itself.

It’s been beating to death that there were leadership issues (yes, here we go again) on team Astana. And we alllllll know by now that Contador expects his team’s support as the Tour winds down.

But two things became abundantly clear today: 1) He clearly didn’t trust his mates enough to rely on them, and 2) Even if he had their support, he clearly had no interest in returning the favor.

There are two kinds of bad guy in the Tour:

There are the hardcore, show-you-up, Armstrong-Landis types that you either love or hate. And then there are the ones who command your respect with their talent, but certainly not their petulance.

As Contador comes into his cycling prime, it’s beginning to look like he’s got a little bit too much of the latter, at least for my tastes.