Jens Voigt headlines strong contingent of Germans potentially headed to Luxembourg
The Luxembourg team of Nygaard and Andersen with the deep pockets of businessman, Flavio Becca, at the helm, is starting to take shape. While the team has promised to keep its roster quiet until the UCI mandated date of the 1st of September, names are continually being leaked at the moment, and a lot of them are coming from Germany.
Sport1.de reports that three riders from on-the-way-out Milram will be headed to Luxembourg in 2011: Linus Gerdemann, Fabian Wegmann, and Johannes Fröhlinger.
Another German news source, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, links two Saxo Bank Germans with Becca's project: longtime Riis stalwart, Jens Voigt, and promising prospect Dominic Klemme. Voigt, in particular, would be a crucial loss for Riis - the Criterium International dominator has spent seven years under the direction of the Dane.
Sport director, Torsten Schmidt, would also follow the mass exodus from Riis's squad, highlighted most likely by Frank and Andy Schleck, over to the promising waters of the team led by Brian Nygaard and Kim Andersen.
That's the simple part though, according to Politiken.dk, things might not be so cut and dry for the Luxembourg team. New rumors have it that it might take until 2012 to get the team off the ground.
Team director, Kim Andersen, is keeping quiet about the status of the team until the crucial open season demarcation point of September 1st.
"There are so many rumors running at the moment that it is almost impossible to keep up. There is nothing to suggest that we won't be able to race. I will admit though, that time does pass very quickly. That is all I have to say about the situation right now. We have chosen not to make any comments on the progress of the team - there will be no concrete announcements from our side until September 1st."
While Riis looks more and more likely to pick up the services of Alberto Contador in 2011, the direction of the Schlecks remains somewhat dim. Media in Luxembourg are indicating that Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team has thrown its hat in the ring for the services of the Schlecks next season. If the project in Luxembourg doesn't get going soon enough, it would seem a distinct possibility.
It is likely things will become a lot clearer come September 1st. Until then, it's all just speculation.