Lance Armstrong says that newly crowned Tour de France champion Alberto Contador could break the American's record of seven Tour victories.

"Records are there to be broken and if Alberto can begin winning Tours at this age we will see how far he can go," Armstrong told Spanish daily Marca after the 24-year-old Contador completed his maiden Tour win on Sunday.

"Contador is a very talented rider who is very explosive in the mountains and also does well in the time-trials but let's not forget he is only 24 and can only get better."

Armstrong, who owns part of Contador's Discovery Channel team, was riding in the American squad's team car when Contador did just enough in Saturday's penultimate time trial to preserve his 23 second lead over Cadel Evans and solidify the yellow jersey.

"I tried to give him confidence and advice to keep his lead and calm his nerves but I don't know if he was listening to me because there was a lot of noise in the car," Armstrong said.

Spain's Contador, who won Paris-Nice at the start of this season, was scouted by Discovery before this season, but his victory came as a surprise to Armstrong who was only hoping to collect the white jersey for best young rider, also won by Contador.

"I think he's a great talent, a rider for the future," Armstrong told Eurosport. "We actually tried for years to get him on the team and you know finally we were able to do that."

"As a rider he's an explosive climber, he's able to make a difference quickly on the steeper parts and I think the message you get from [Discovery sporting director Johan Bruyneel] is that he is very poised and very mature for a 24-year-old."

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport