Following confirmation earlier this month that Vincenzo Nibali will leave the Liquigas-Cannondale squad at the end of the year, with general manager Roberto Amadio saying that the rider had not accepted an offer of €1.8 million, La Gazzetta dello Sport is suggesting a deal has been done with the Astana team.
It stated that Vinokourov’s presence at the end of the Giro d’Italia was to hold talks with Nibali, who didn’t compete in the race but who was in attendance at the finale. According to the Italian newspaper, the two riders, Nibali’s agent Alex Carera and Mangeldiev Darkan of the Kazakh cycling federation met in Milan the day before the race finished there, and that Astana offered Nibali a salary of €2.8 million.
Under the conditions of the deal – which won’t be made official for some time due to UCI rules – Nibali will be able to bring with him trusted lieutenants Alessandro Vanotti and Valerio Agnoli, as well as the trainer Paolo Slongo.
Astana had said in recent days that it has finalised agreements with a major rider in cycling. It is thought possible that Roman Kreuziger will remain with the team and compete alongside Nibali.
In early May Amadio said that the Kazakh squad was one of two which were chasing the 2010 Vuelta a Espana winner. He said that both it and the BMC Racing Team had offered the rider €2.5 million per year, and that his squad was resigned to him moving on. “For us the matter is closed,” he told Tuttobiciweb then.
“It won’t be easy to be without Vincenzo. We always considered that he’s a true product of Liquigas-Cannondale, but it is also true that there are several proposals and there really is a lot of money.”
Nibali is 27 years of age and has victory in the 2010 Vuelta plus the runner-up slot in the 2011 Giro d’Italia to his credit. He has also taken two stages in the Giro, as well as the 2010 Tour de San Luis plus the 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico.
It was reported earlier this week that Nibali was in disagreement with Liquigas-Cannondale over his post-Tour racing programme. He wants to ride the Vuelta to prepare for the world championships, while his team has told him it wants him to instead ride the Tour of Utah plus the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.