Mass exodus from Liquigas, Italians flock to British team, Horner Shacks up somewhere else?
According to Dutch website, Sportdome, Roman Kreuziger is looking to make a move to Astana and not the Belgian Omega Pharma-Lotto team as previously reported. Kreuziger looks set to join Alberto Contador, who the website reports will sign a three year contract extension with the Kazakh team.
If Sportdome is correct, Liquigas will also lose 30-year-old Classics specialist Alexander Kuschynski to Astana. Astana is also supposedly interested in another Belarussian, QuickStep's Branislav Samoilau. The biggest eyebrow raiser, however, would be a move from RadioShack to Astana by American Chris Horner. Horner would of course be moving back to the team that he left at the end of the 2009 season, and more than likely making a non-friend of Lance Armstrong, a boss who has a history of not being too terribly excited about losing important teammates to other teams, especially arch-rival teams.
The strong, multi-faceted Liquigas team looks to be on the verge of losing a major chunk of its supporting cast. Sportdome reports that Alessandro Vanotti, Fabio Sabatini, Francesco Chicchi, Manuel Quinziato, and Daniele Bennati are all in talks with other teams. Both Vanotti and Sabatini are enjoying the interest of both Sky and Katusha, while Chicchi is being courted solely by the Russian powerhouse, who are looking for a star sprinter to replace the sprinter in the twilight of his career, Robbie McEwen.
Liquigas would be without a major sprinter if Bennati and Chicchi were to depart, but the 26-year-old Belarussian talent, Yauheni Hutarovich of Francaise des Jeux would be the likely replacement for the Italian duo.
Like last year, Team Sky is looking to make a strong impression in the transfer market heading into 2011. Last year, the British team focused its efforts on the cobbled classics with such editions as Juan Antonio Flecha, Edvald Boasson Hagen, and Matthew Hayman. Sportdome reports that the focus for 2011 is in the hilly classics, so it is unsurprising that the names of Damiano Cunego, Giovanni Visconti, and Joaquin Rodriguez are all mentioned.
Of course, this is all unconfirmed speculation, but the possibilities are intriguing. If Liquigas were to lose a huge chunk of its team, perhaps as many as seven riders, that would free up a large sum of money for at least one big name signee, plus a number of others. Hutarovich would be a wise pick, as the young Belarussian has progressed nicely in each of the past few seasons. He looks set to make the last couple of steps to the elite step of sprinters in the next season or two. Meanwhile, RadioShack would lose a major asset in Horner, whilst Astana would gain huge firepower in Kreuziger, Horner, and Kuschynski. If Sky is able to net any of the hilly specialists, Cunego, Visconti, or Rodriguez, they would be all but assured of some significant results next April in the Ardennes, as well as numerous smaller stage races throughout the year.