Joost Posthuma and Tom Stamsnijder are under contract for 2012 but have not been mentioned in new team’s plans
With the long-rumoured, yet sudden, announcement that the Leopard Trek and RadioShack teams are to merge in 2012, many of both teams’ personnel are in the dark about their immediate future. A number of ridersform both sides, including Leopard Trek’s Shleck brothers and Fabian Cancellara, and RadioShack’s Chris Hormer and Andreas Klöden, have been have been specifically named as central to the new team’s plans. Many riders though, including a number with existing contracts for 2012, have not been mentioned.
Joost Posthuma and Tom Stamsnijder, Leopard Trek’s two Dutch riders, are among those that are suddenly uncertain over what they will be doing, or who they will be riding for in 2012. Both were given two-year contracts when they joined the newly formed team this year, and both had assumed that they would be Leopard Trek riders next season.
“I know nothing,” Posthuma told de Telegraaf. “This is remarkable, but for now I’m assuming that my contract will be respected. I hope that I’m not suddenly going to hear in a month that there’s no place for me, because then there will probably be nowhere to go.”
Posthuma was one of Leopard Trek’s key domestiques in the Tour de France in July; his presence in the early breakaway that provided Andy Schleck with a stepping-stone on the way to his solo victory on the Col du Galibier.
Yesterday, l’Equipe published a list nine of the eleven riders that it claimed had been told that they needed to find a new team. Posthuma’s name was not on that list, but Stamsnijder’s was and, while he did not comment on that specific issue, admitted that he was concerned about the immediate future.
“I’m worried yes,” Stamsnijder told de Telegraaf, “but I also assume that my contract will be honoured.”
Both riders moved to Leopard Trek from the Rabobank team, with both having come through the team’s under-23 development team. While Stamsnijder spent two years at Gerolsteiner between 2007 and 2008, Posthuma had spent his entire nine-year career with the Dutch team.