Following today’s earlier announcement that the American RadioShack team will merge with that of Leopard Trek, joining the likes of the Schleck brothers and Fabian Cancellara with Chris Horner, Janez Brajkovic and Andreas Klöden, the RadioShack element has communicated further details.
Aside from the aforementioned competitors it states that national champions Matthew Busche, Jani Brajkovic, Nelson Oliveira and Robert Wagner will be present. Also coming on board are the neo-pros Jesse Sergent and Ben King, stage race specialists Jakob Fuglsang and Haimar Zubeldia, plus the sprinter Daniele Bennati. Both the riders and the staff will be formed from the current teams, and more details will be made available by September 15th.
Although the earlier Leopard Trek press release said that the setup would be based in Luxembourg and would aim to retain Leopard Trek’ current UCI ProTeam licence, it appears that there is a substantial element of the RadioShack team set to be involved.
It states that Johan Bruyneel will indeed be part of the setup, the Belgian director managing things in Belgium and Luxembourg. It also adds that marketing operations will be performed by CSE Pro Cycling LLC in Austin, Texas, and that Livestrong will continue being part of the setup.
Sponsors RadioShack and Nissan will provide backing for 2012 and 2013.
“With our sponsors’ continuing commitment and the professionalism of our riders, I’m confident that RadioShack-Nissan-Trek will dominate cycling for years to come,” said Bruyneel. “With Team RadioShack, we won 30 races and dominated the most important American races in 2011. Now thanks to the presence of riders like Fabian Cancellara and the Schleck brothers, we have the potential to win not only Classics and major stage races but Grand Tours as well.”
Although past calculations of the number of riders with 2012 contracts on both teams gave figures of approximately 40 riders, the team is insisting that no riders with contracts will go short.
“ We will form a team of 30 riders, in regulation with the UCI rules,” Bruyneel continued. “All contracts with riders and staff that are already signed with Team Leopard-Trek or Team RadioShack will be respected. We are grateful our sponsors believe in this project. This is a great milestone for our team and our global sport.”