Following days of speculation, both Allan Davis and his brother Scott will compete as part of the Astana team in 2010. Allan, who won the Tour Down Under earlier this year and finished a very solid eleventh in the world rankings, had been left without a contract when it was revealed last week that the Quick Step team could not afford to keep him on.
It faced a budget shortfall after the withdrawal of bike supplier Specialized. Ironically, Specialized will back the Astana team to which he is moving.
According to the website Wielerland.nl, the Kazakh Cycling Federation has confirmed the two signings, which will bring the number of riders on the Astana team up to 27.
Davis has already competed with the Astana team, riding there and with its predecessor Liberty Seguros-Wurth in 2006. He was implicated in Operación Puerto but then later cleared. He competed with Discovery Channel in 2007, Mitzubishi-Jartazi in 2008, then moved to Quick Step this year.
The 29-year-old is known as a sprinter who can fare quite well on hilly courses. He was second in Milan-San Remo in 2007, then placed fourth this season. Other 2009 results include the Tour Down Under victory (plus three stages), second in Paris–Brussels and the GP de Wallonie plus fourth in the Vattenfall Cyclassics race.
His brother Scott is one year older and raced this year with the Fly V Australia team. He was previously with the T-Mobile/High Road/Columbia squad from 2006 to 2008, and will now make his return to the ProTour.
It will be expected that the brothers will line out in the 163.2 Australian road race championships on January 10th, then go on to ride the Santos Tour Down Under. It runs from January 17 – 24.