Contador to sign with Riis?

Right, this is a blog and not a newspaper or website with high standards of journalism to uphold. It’s not cyclingnews.com either. I feel I can float ideas even when I can’t get them officially confirmed.


Fran Contador is a busy man

So here goes. Astana can’t afford to keep Contador. His brother, acting as his agent, is pushing for more money but the team has a budget and can’t raise any more money in a hurry.

Meanwhile Riis is pitching to Contador. Now Riis is still under negotiations with sponsors but the arrival of Contador is exactly what a sponsor wants and his near-guaranteed Tour de France success is going to bring a lot of attention. To the point where Specialized are prepared to dig deep to create their own “test team” with Contador and Cancellara as the stars.

So there you have it: Team Specialized-Sungard with Contador joining. You heard it here first.

Caveat
This is only from one source but the correspondent is sound, they’ve supplied a two stories that proved true… plus two others that look true but I really can’t afford to publish.

6 thoughts on “Contador to sign with Riis?”

  1. Without revealing too much, I can definately say Specialized are keen on their own "test team" and have been evaluating this.

    We'll see if anything's announced. Usually the second rest day of the Tour is when these things get unveiled but I gather Contador wants to finish the race and evaluate things.

    It also gives an extra dimension to the Vino-Contador dynamic.

  2. Would the test team be with Riis or with one of the many other teams that will be looking for sponsorship next year?

    Something tells me Vino does not like being considered a domestique on a team which he played a part in setting up.

    Those rumours of Fernando Alonso setting up an all Spanish team seemed to disappear as quick as they came up, will they now reappear with the recent emergence of the Spanish riders on this years tour.

    Its going to be very interesting week or two while things are being decided, but im sure the guys at Specialized will be happy having two riders on there bikes finishing 1st and 2nd on the GC and 1st in the Youth classification.

  3. Anon, Cancellara has a contract with Riis Cycling for two years, of which there is another year (2011) to run on the contract. So Riis should keep Cancellara.

  4. Contador needs a real agent, family and bussines is not a good mix. The real agent is who knows all the people in the cycling world no who is living in a small town in Spain and is riding the titan race for fun¡¡

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