Garmin chief Jonathan Vaughters admitted Tour de France leader Alberto Contador is a "fantastic rider" but would not confirm rumours his team was hoping to hire the Tour de France leader.

Spain's 2007 champion Contador, of Astana, has a virtually unassailable lead of 4min 11sec over second-placed Luxemburger Andy Schleck ahead of Saturday's 20th and penultimate stage to the summit of Mont Ventoux.

Two days before the end of the race a huge question mark is hanging over the future of the Astana team, whose leaders are Contador and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

A day after Armstrong announced the creation of a new team for 2010, Team RadioShack, rumours in Spain claim American outfit Garmin are looking to sign Contador.

Vaughters would not confirm those rumours.

But the American, a former professional racer with Armstrong's US Postal team and French outfit Credit Agricole, told AFP: "Alberto Contador is an incredible rider and would be a fantastic rider to have on any team.

"But negotiations with riders is not something that we would discuss."

Garmin have a reputation in cycling as one of the most ethical teams in the peloton. In layman's terms that means they are strictly no-doping and put the biological parameters of prospective riders through a battery of independent tests before they even consider hiring them.

Coming a day after Contador dodged reporters' queries about his performances - following doubts expressed by former Tour de France winner Greg Lemond - Vaughters added that Contador, just as any other rider, would have to follow strict ethical rules before even being considered.

Vaughters added: "Every single rider who has come to the team has had to release to us their health records including blood profiles and we go through them very thoroughly through independent analysis."