Spanish cyclist Oscar Pujol faces an uncertain future with no contract for 2012. The current Omega Pharma-Lotto rider has not been offered a contract by either the new Lotto-Ridley cycling team or Omega Pharma-Quick Step, and admits to finding it difficult to train with no set goals for next year.
“I'm doing the pre-season with uncertainty. Until December 31 there is still time but it is difficult to prepare without knowing where I will ride. I hope to find something even smaller," he told Marca.com, admitting that finding a WorldTour team will be tough.
Pujol turned professional with the Cervélo Test Team in 2009 where he spent two seasons. After the team folded he joined Belgium outfit Omega Pharma-Lotto but confessed he never fitted well in the team.
“I felt apart to the Belgians from start which is partly because of the language barrier, it discourages you. Then I didn’t ride as strong as I should in [Criterium du] Dauphine and I no longer took part in the Vuelta a España. It was hard to be excluded because it was the goal of my season.”
The 28 year old only managed to finish in a lowly position everyday in the Dauphine before pulling out on stage six. The rest of his season also has no real results to show which will make it difficult for the rider to find a team.
Many riders over the past weeks have told VeloNation they’ve found the transfer market very tough with the closure of HTC-Highroad and the fact that Team RadioShack and Leopard Trek will become one team. It now could be the case that Geox-TMC will also not continue next year as the main sponsor pulled the plug on supporting the team in recent weeks.