More riders prepare to jump ship as Spanish team struggles to find replacement sponsor
As uncertainty over the future of Eusabio Unzué’s Caisse d’Epargne team continues, more riders are making alternative plans. The French bank is pulling its sponsorship at the end of the year and the team, which can trace its roots back to the Reynolds team of the 1980’s, has been unable to find a replacement.
Two of the team’s big stars, Luis Leon Sanchez and David Arroyo, have been linked to moves to Rabobank and Astana respectively, while Mathieu Perget, one of the team’s few Frenchmen, has already signed for AG2R-La Mondiale.
Now Rigoberto Uran and Vasil Kiryienka have made alternative plans, with both riders linked to the British Sky team.
“I can confirm that we’ve talked,” the riders’ agent Giuseppe Acquadro told Tuttobiciweb, “but we currently haven’t agreed anything. Also, because we want to know what the future holds for the formation of Eusabio Unzué. If the Spanish team continues then both will remain where they are, otherwise we will carefully evaluate this Team Sky proposal.”
Belarusian Kiryienka is in his second year with Caisse d’Epargne, having previously spent two seasons with the Tinkoff Credit Systems team. His biggest victory to date was a stage win in the 2008 Giro d’Italia; he might have won stage 10 of the Tour de France between Chambéry and Gap this year, but he was outsmarted in the sprint by RadioShack’s Sergio Paulinho.
Despite still being just 23 years of age, Columbian Uran is in his fifth year as a professional rider. He has spent the last three years at the Spanish team; before which he was with the ill-fated Unibet.com team, giving the Swedish registered team one of its few victories in the 2007 Tour de Suisse.