HTC-Columbia director may join Schlecks’ team through Danish connection
After the plethora of riders rumoured to be signing for the new team of Luxembourg brothers Fränk and Andy Schleck, the name of a director sportif Brian Holm has also been linked. Many of the named riders are currently at the Saxo Bank team, where team organisers Brian Nygaard and Kim Anderson were previously on the staff; Holm is currently at HTC-Columbia though, but as a Dane the connection to Nygaard and Anderson is clear.
“It’s true that I’ve talked with the Luxembourg team,” Holm confirmed to Feltet.dk, “but I can’t say much more at this time. However, I can say that I consider Brian Nygaard as one of the brightest minds in international cycling, and Kim Anderson as one of the world’s best sports directors. It’s a very exciting project that they’ve started, and it’s going to be really big.”
While he finds the project exciting, he has been at the HTC-Columbia team, where he has been a director sportif since 2003.
“Rolf Aldag, Erik Zabel and Mark Cavendish are people with whom I have a special relationship,” he said, “and it would be hard to say goodbye; but you should never say never. Now I think I’m really well, and then we shall see what happens.”
The Dane, who also rode for the HTC-Columbia team in the 1990’s when it was sponsored by Deutsche Telekom, is out of contract at the end of this season; he feels he owes his current employer the courtesy of speaking to them first.
“Now I certainly first and foremost have a dialogue with my current team HTC-Columbia. Like riders switch teams, so sometimes sports directors switch teams and time will tell if I switch.”