Peter Sagan is reportedly set to move to Tinkoff-Saxo at the end of this season – and he will reportedly be taking bike sponsor Cannondale with him, reports Italian sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport.
The Slovak rider’s contract expires at the end of this season. While 1 August is the earliest that new deals can be announced under UCI rules, the Italian newspaper says that agreement between Sagan, Cannondale and Russian entrepreneur Oleg Tinkoff has already been reached.
Sagan, the winner of last year’s Gent-Wevelgem, seven Grand Tour stages and back-to-back green jerseys in the Tour de France, has previously attracted interest from Astana. However, the Kazakh team was reportedly unable to meet the €4 million salary he is seeking.
He has also been linked with the new team Formula 1 racing driver Fernando Alonso hopes to put together for the 2015 season, although that project is far from being finalised.
However, the newspaper says that Cannondale giving up its UCI WorldTour licence could give Alonso the opportunity to secure a fast track entry to the top tier of the sport with his planned new team.
A further twist is that with Specialized currently providing bikes to Tinkoff-Saxo, a change in supplier may put a question mark over Alberto Contador’s future with the Danish team.
The Spaniard, contracted to Tinkoff-Saxo until the end of 2015, has a personal contract with the US brand, and the Gazzetta dello Sport speculates that it could be terminated a year early.
Cannondale, who have been seeking a second sponsor for its current team since Liquigas ended its involvement with the sport at the end of 2012, would reportedly sponsor the team, possibly renamed Tinkoff-Cannondale, to the tune of €6.5 million a year.
As for its existing riders, Ivan Basso, who has struggled to recapture the form that brought him the 2010 Giro d’Italia, is out of contract at the end of this year, and would be likely to head elsewhere.
Under contract with Cannondale Pro Cycling until the end of 2015 are riders including last year’s Strade Bianche winner, Moreno Moser, and the sprinter, Elia Viviani, winner of the opening stage in the 2013 Tour of Britain and twice beaten into second place in a Grand Tour stage.
The Gazzetta dello Sport says that besides Alonso, the French UCI Professional Continental team Sojasun as well as Cannondale Pro Cycling’s manager, Roberto Amadio, may be candidates to pick up its UCI WorldTour licence.
Good use by witness of the word "kerfuffle", though placed alongside "carnage" and two men with axes, I don't know if it is an entirely appropriate...
That level of policy detail is not required at this stage and for current purposes.
Future world champion...but not in an F1 car with rim brakes also I suspect given the seat post height differences, George is quite tall for an F1...
3a) Shouldn't horses, ponies etc need number plates as well? 3b) How do you fit a speedo(meter) to/on a horse? 3bi) Good luck with calibration!
While North Wales are the exact opposite, they love their A Frames.
But Campag is at its most beautiful when it is fully shiny.
Does anyone know when the patents expire on the old top of the line 9 speed Campy and Shimano groupsets? Asking for a friend!...
Which is all fair enough, though there is surely a strong argument that as both the employers of the police and those who have to abide by their...
I'm not seeing the racist bit - do you mean the use of 'gammon'? That'd be complexion-shaming, not racism.