Daily Cycling Facts 02.10.2013

Kim Andersen
Born in Malling, Denmark on this day in 1952, Kim Andersen became the first Dane to wear the maillot jaune of the Tour de France when he led the race for five days early in the 1983 edition]. He also won Stage 12, but by that time trailed too far behind the leaders in the General Classification. In 1984 he won La Flèche Wallonne, and in 1985 he once again wore the maillot jaune at the Tour, this time for three days.

He tested positive in 1987, the year he became National Champion, and was banned from competition for life; this was later reduced to one year but in 1992 he tested positive again and was sacked by his team, Z. After continuing as an independent to the end of the season, he retired. Andersen worked as a directeur sportif with various teams after 1998, including CSC from 2003. There, he first met the Schleck brothers and went with them to LeopardTrek for the 2011.

Andersen became known as the Schleck's directeur sportif of choice - which, in view of his doping history, would inevitably raise questions, especially when Frank tested positive for the diuretic (used to increase production of urine, thus reducing the concentration of performance-enhancing drugs in it and making them harder to detect) xipamide at the 2012 Tour de France (during 2013, RadioShack-Nissan announced that it would not be renewing Frank's contract when his ban expired. This was not the first time Frank had been named in connection to doping; in 2008, it was alleged - and subsequently confirmed - that €7000 had been paid from his bank account into one owned by none other than Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor at the centre of the Operacion Puerto scandal ; Andy has never failed a test nor been linked to doping, and it has been widely noted that the brothers have not been as close as they once were). He was at the centre of a row following the team's merger with RadioShack in 2012 when general manager Johan Bruyneel refused to let him work with the brothers at the Tour de France; however, Bruyneel was sacked by the team in October of that year following USADA's investigations into doping at US Postal which subsequently led to the disqualification of Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories. Two months later, Nissan announced that they no longer wished to be associated with the team and ended sponsorship, then in 2013 Trek bought full ownership of the team from Leopard SA, a company owned by Flavio Becca; it is not known if Andersen will be a part of the new outfit.

2008 Fleche Wallonne winner Kim Kirchen, who rode for a number of professional teams between 1999 and 2010 including Highroad and Katusha, is named after Andersen - Kirchen's father Erny, who won the Fleche du Sud in 1973, is a friend of the Dane.



Born in Copenhagen on this day in 1962, Brian Holm was a super-domestique who won the National Individual Time Trial Championship in 1990 and later became manager of the national team. He admitted in his autobiography in 2002 that he had doped during the 1990s, then in 2007 that he twice used EPO during his time at Team Telekom; but was not sacked from his management position. Holm, who recovered from colon cancer in the mid-2000s and created a company that raises funds for cancer charities, has worked closely with British sprinter Mark Cavendish and is said to be a great motivational influence upon him.

Hilde Quintens, born in Zolder, Belgium on this day in 1964, was National Cyclo Cross Champion in 2003 and 2006.

André Foucher, born in Cuillé, France on this day in 1933, was National Military Road Race Champion in 1955 and National Independent Road Race Champion in 1958; he also came sixth overall in the 1964 Tour de France.

Nico Verhoeven, who was born in Berkel-Enschot, Netherlands on this day in 1961, was Amateur National Champion in 1984 and won Stage 1 at the Tour de France in 1987.

Other cyclists born on this day: Julien Vermote (Belgium, 1949 - the uncle of Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Julien Vermote, who was born in 1989): Luis Pasamontes (Spain, 1979); Daniela Larreal (Venezuela, 1973); Mitchell Docker (Australia, 1986); Sharon Vandromme (Belgium, 1983); Wilco Zuijderwijk (Netherlands, 1969); Liu Cheng-Tao (Taipei, 1937); Robert Pulfer (Canada, 1967); Alberto Downey (Chile, 1890); John Sinibaldi (USA, 1913, died 2006); Chester Nelsen, Sr. (USA, 1902, died 1987); Pavel Khamidulin (USSR, 1971); Shazada Muhammad Shah-Rukh (Pakistan, 1926); Pietro Algeri (Italy, 1950); Ronny Vanmarcke (Belgium, 1947); Dellys Starr (Australia, 1976); Hernán Masanés (Chile, 1931).

Another Cyclopunk Exclusive: Schlecks' new sponsors!

Hot on the heels of news that Johan Bruyneel is in a spot of bother and today's revelation that Jakob Fuglsang has been made to go to his bedroom without any tea and has to stay there for the rest of the season, Cyclopunk's Copenhagen-based sister newspaper Overskud Lort has come up with the strongest evidence yet that the Brothers Schleck will be racing for a new team backed by a German sponsor in 2013.

Overskud Lort undercover journalist Spionclopunk has obtained apparently genuine documents showing that well-known candy manufacturer Haarigen Jungen - which amusingly produced black licorice coins named negertaler as late as 1993 - has signed an agreement to supply the new and as-yet un-named team (instructions on how to write and pronounce the new team's name are expected to be published a few months after it's revealed) with one bag of fizzy jelly rainbow-coloured frogs per day. It's understood that the sweets will be used to bribe Jens Voigt, whom the Schlecks recruited some years ago to prevent bigger boys from stealing their lunch money when UCI officials are looking the other way.

It's still not entirely clear how the team is to be financed, though Andy Schleck has been overheard saying that he knows a magical pixie who has promised him a pot of gold.

More Spyclopunk exclusives

The superteam that wasn't

The Schlecks in the SaxoBank days

RadioShack-Nissan, formed from the pre-existing RadioShack and LeopardTrek squads, was put together with one main purpose - to propel a Schleck, probably Andy but Frank would do too, to victory in the Tour de France.

With every day that comes, it looks more as if that's not going to happen. The brothers have had a dismal Spring Classics season during which both of them were embarrassed on the harsh, leg-breaking hills of Flanders and the Ardennes and now Frank has abandoned the Giro d'Italia. Did they spend the winter drinking beer and guzzling frites (or whatever it is that Luxembourgians do in the winter)? Are they both just that type of cyclist that burns brightly for a few years and then fizzles out? Or is something else preventing them, especially Andy, from fulfilling the promise of the last few years?

Something, or someone, such as Johan Bruyneel, perhaps. Frank says that the reason he abandoned the Giro is because he was in pain - "My right shoulder has been hurt and dislocated and since I was sitting wrong on the bike my entire left side is numb. I have been focused and that’s why I’ve kept riding four days after my crash, hoping it would get better every day," he explained on the team's website.

Johan Bruyneel

So does Bruyneel think that his rider did the right thing - after all, nothing's worth the risk of making an injury even worse, is it? Apparently, he's not convinced. "I am very disappointed that he has given up. I am especially disappointed that he has given up and that he has let the team down," he told German newspaper Tageblatt, then goes on to attack the rest of the squad too: "Currently, none of the team at the level that was expected. Only Fabian Cancellara, before his accident. Everyone else has failed. Currently, not one single rider is ready for the Tour de France; not one."

It's not been long since Bruyneel annoyed the brothers with his announcement that their preferred directeur sportif Kim Andersen was banned from accompanying them to the Tour, then refused to give his reasons: "I’m not going to go into any controversy, that’s my version and I’m not going to go into Andy said this or that. The decision has been made and the decision stays like it is," he told Cycling News. Andy, meanwhile, seemed well aware that his status as a Tour de France General Classification contender gives him a certain amount of leeway, saying that whatever happened Andersen would "be in the race." Did he mean that he plans to remain in contact with Andersen throughout the Tour, by internet or phone?

Kim Andersen

Now, I've never managed a professional cycling team and I have every respect for Bruyneel's greater experience in that area. However, I've been a manager for several different companies since the mid 1990s, when Bruyneel was a successful rider, and the most important thing I've learned is that you cannot treat your employees in the way he's currently doing. Some management training programmes instruct that it's more important to be respected than liked. What they fail to understand is that a manager can't have respect unless he or she is liked: being respected is not the same as being feared, and if your employees fear you they'll also hate you. You need to allow them a certain amount of say around the workplace, because if they don't they'll hate working for you. If they hate you and hate working for you, they lose their enthusiasm and start sabotaging your business (and stealing stuff, in the case of most businesses). Then they find somewhere else to work, somewhere where the manager isn't an arsehole.

Bruyneel would be very wise to remember that Andy and Frank have probably got Bryan Nygaard's cellphone number and email address, as well as Andersen's, and that despite the Schlecks' softy, butter-wouldn't-melt choirboy images they've proved once already that they're not afraid to strike out for pastures new, asset-stripping their previous team as they do so.

EDIT 23.06.12
Rumours currently doing the rounds suggest that the Schlecks are indeed planning to form a new team. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf claims that the Luxembourgian brothers have been convinced that doing is so is the best way forward since Bruyneel's latest legal problems, in which he is being accused of running a doping ring, and have already signed up an un-named German company to act as co-sponsor.

The Schlecks' contract with RadioShack-Nissan doesn't expire until 2014, but the newspaper also says that "some German riders" (also un-named, but not necessarily riders from teams other than RadioShack: Jens Voigt, Linus Gerdemann, Andreas Klöden and Robert Wagner are all German, Voigt having already once followed the Schlecks to pastures new when the three of them left CSC for Leopard Trek) have already been approached and believes that Andersen would be the most likely choice to become manager.

One big question that remains is what will the suits in the Trek boardroom decide to do now? If the current investigations don't spell the death of Bruyneel's RadioShack team - and there's a good chance that they will - can the manufacturer afford to continue its association with them? Will they cut their ties? Frank Schleck, of course, has got a little bit of a tarnish on his public image - that €7000 transfer from his bank account into one owned by a certain Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes a few years back. He was subsequently cleared of all suspicion that he'd been up to anything untoward and he's been every bit as whiter-than-white as Andy ever since. Will that, combined with Andy's angelic public persona, be enough to keep the boys on their Madones in 2013, or could Trek decide that they need to make a complete break from the entire situation, perhaps even taking a year or two out of team sponsorship?

Cav to announce 2012 team...?

(© Mogens Engelund CC3.0)

Are we about to finally find out with which team new World Champion Mark Cavendish will be riding in 2012 following the unfortunate demise of HTC-Highroad? Rumours are circulating that we'll be enlightened at some point in the very near future, following Team Sky's conformation that whilst they have established an "oral contract," they do not have a signed contract with the rider on Tuesday morning (4th October).

For several weeks now, the greater part of the cycling world has considered it all but a foregone conclusion that he'll be going to Team Sky. However, some of those rumours this morning suggest otherwise, hinting that it could be Quick-Step who will be merging with Omega Pharma-Lotto to form Omega Pharma Quick-Step in the new year. The Belgian Gazet van Antwerpen newspaper carries quotes it arrtibutes to an anonymous Sky employee who says that "recently, we're not so certain that he'll ride for us next year. Apparently, a few things have changed since he became World Champion in Copenhagen."

One of those factors would be likely to be Quick-Step's recent decision to begin using Specialized bikes, which Mark rode so successfully with Highroad, rather than Eddy Merckx machines - Sky will remain with Pinarello until at least the end of the current three-year contract between the team and supplier. While it might at first seem that Cav is the reason for the change in supplier rather than vice-versa - manufacturers being well aware of the exposure they receive from high-profile riders, thus driving Specialized to cut the team a good deal in order to keep Cav aboard their bikes - respected blogger Inrng notes that a previous press release announcing the new deal on Specialized's website has mysteriously vanished, suggesting that they plan to re-announce it with more of a fanfare if Cav is indeed now onboard.

Were this to be the case, it would come as blessed relief to other teams - a Sky with a Missile flying within it would be an all but unstoppable force with the potential to dominate Grand Tours for the next few years; Omega Pharma Quick-Step, as a new team with several riders who have not worked together, would likely be weaker than the tried, tested and entrenched Sky line-up, and as such would be seen as more manageable even with Cav among the ranks.

Lefevre is either ignoring the rumours or
keeping his cards close to his chest
(© McSmit CC3.0)

Quick-Step currently has a full roster, meaning that one rider would have to be ejected to make room for the Manx sprinter. That could mean a costly breach of contract if nobody wants to go voluntarily, but it's a price the team might consider worth paying in order to secure him - manager Patrick Lefevre seems keen to scotch the rumours, though: "Will Cavendish next year be in my cycling team?" says the Belgian ex-professional. "I wish - but I have thirty riders under contract.”

Later in the day, news broke that Davide Malacarne would be leaving Quick-Step for Europcar - thus solving the 30 rider problem if the rumours turn out to be true.

Meanwhile, equally unconfirmed rumours stemming from a report in the Dutch De Telegraaf newspaper claim that Joost Posthuma, one of the Leopard Trek riders that have fallen prey to the Leopard-RadioShack union, may be about to announce a new contract with GreenEDGE. The Australian team, formed in January this year, is  almost certain to gain a UCI World Tour licence for 2012 - allowing them to race in the  Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in addition to the other 24 races in the series.

The world awaits with baited breath...

LeopardTrek HQ raided by police

Frank Schleck was connected to Eufemiano
Fuentes in the past, but subsequently
cleared of all doping charges
(©Noel Reynolds CC2.0)

News is emerging that the headquarters of Andy Schleck's team LeopardTrek was raided by Luxembourg police on Tueday morning. Early reports state that the home of team owner Flavio Becca was also targetted. At first, the obvious reason appeared to be an anti-doping investigation, but it has since transpired that Becca is subject to a financial investigation.

In a press release, representatives for Mr. Becca said: "Until now [meaning "at present"] nobody has been charged. The companies and Mr Becca have collaborated with the judicial authorities and intend to continue to do so. We wish that the authorities do their job quickly and that they show that the allegations are groundless."

It should also be noted that Becca, a businessman who developed a small masonry firm into one of Europe's most profitable construction companies, has wide-ranging interests outside professional cycling and as such it's likely that the investigation is linked solely to him rather than to his team.

LeopardTrek, which does not conduct internal anti-doping controls since it believes that the UCI conducts sufficient tests to make it unnecessary,  has not been involved in any doping scandals since its formation earlier this year. Police raids are quite a regular feature of professional cycling and as such should not be seen as evidence that anything untoward has been taking place. The raids have since been confirmed by police prosecutor Henri Eippers, says the wort.lu website.

Flavio Becca

The team is also home to Jens Voigt, riders' representative on the UCI ProTour Council - a position he has used to speak out against doping. In fact, the team's roster is one of the most clean-cut in the sport, with few of the riders ever being caught up in any sort of doping issue - Stuart O'Grady was a part of Cofidis during 2004, when David Millar's positive sample rocked the team whereas Frank Schleck, following an accusation made by a German newspaper, was shown to have made a mysterious payment into a bank account owned by the notorious Eufemiano Fuentes in 2005. Both riders were later cleared of all charges and have not since faced any serious accusations.

EXCLUSIVE! How Andy will win the Tour

Spyclopunk strikes again! Once again, our crack team of undercover investigative reporters has been involved in a covert mission as we attempt to bring YOU, our esteemed readership, exclusive and ground-breaking news from the murky world of professional cycling.

Recently, we revealed the amazing new Cervelo InvisiBike with which the Garmin-Cervelo team hope to win the 2012 Tour de France.

Today, with LeopardTrek on the brink of joining forces with RadioShack to form the new RadioSchleckTrekNissanCyclingShackProfessionalLeopardRacing Team, we can exclusively reveal the tactics with which team boss Johan Bruyneel aims to propel his new star Andy "What's a nice boy like you doing in a peloton like this?" Schleck to Tour victory.

Creeping round the back of the hospitality tent at the Tour of Britain to slide a camera under the walls for a sneaky shot of the podium girls' knickers, ace reporter Ian Twitchie-Forrts overheard the Belgian ex-pro holding a whispered discussion with an unknown character who we've since decided was almost certainly John Burke, president of the Trek Bicycle Corporation on the strength of little else than A; it sounded like a man's voice, B; Burke is a man and C; Twitchie-Forrts learned his trade at News International and doesn't see why shoddy journalism should get in the way of a good story.

A highly-skilled master of stealth and disguise, ace reporter
Ian Twitchie-Forrt can move around undetected anywhere
he chooses. That's how Cyclopunk brings you news stories
you won't find anywhere else.

Hearing the words "Andy," "Tour," "TT," "Fabian," "new bike" and "race," Ian's finely-honed reporter's mind told him that he might just have stumbled on the story of the decade - especially if he filled in the gaps with "won't win the," "because he's not very good at," "so with," "doing all the work at the front of the" and "while Andy and Frank chill out at the back and think about kittens and stuff, we'll thrash every other team in the." You may think this sounds like conjecture, but Ian's cv says he's really good at this sort of thing and that's good enough for us.

Realising, as journalists say, that a scoop of this magnitude would fill several thousand sewage works and earn him such gratitude from Cyclopunk editors that they might even stretch as far as to buy him a can of Special Brew, Ian withdrew his camera and another piece of equipment he prefers not to specify; then went off on a prowl around the team compound to see what he could find. He struck gold at the LeopardTrek bus, having taken some time to find it due to originally mistaking it for a spacecraft.

"Basically, I rigged up a quick disguise and sneaked round the side of it," he says, "and let me tell you, I was bricking it in case they had any pitbulls or Jens Voigt on guard. They didn't, though, and so I was able stick my head in through the bus's emergency exit at the back - and, well, I couldn't believe my eyes."

"Nearly four weeks I've been in this business, but never have I seen anything quite like the bike they had hidden away on that bus," he continues. "It was like something from another planet. When these pictures get out the UCI are probably going to go mad because all the other teams will just give up and not even bother applying for the Tour. Later in the day, as they were loading up the pasta, they actually took the bike off the bus for a minute or so and that's when I managed to get a photograph."

Our resident expert Neil Droznan spent last night examining the photographs and has come up with an explanation of what Bruyneel is planning.

"It's a simple matter really," he says. "as well know, drafting is permitted in team time trials. Cancellara, as we all know, is the best time trialist in the world and the air gets out of Voigt's way in case he hurts it. The only trouble is, whereas Andy and Frank can climb a mountain like a goat on amphetamines, they're well-known for not being that good at anything else - well, except embroidery and flower-arranging. As a result, they're just not quick enough on a TT course to draft behind Fabian and Jens."

"Having also taken a close look at the UCI time trial rules, I've been able to discover that at no point does it mention six-seater bicycles or whether or not they're permitted in competition," he adds. "So what Bruyneel plans to do, obviously, is stick Voigt on the front to frighten the laws of physics out of the way; Cancellara behind him to act as the engine; bung Posthuma, Gerdemann or whoever in the middle to make up numbers and then stick the Schleck boys at the back so they don't slow the team down and get a bit of a kip so they're all rested and ready for the steep stuff.

We rang Bruyneel at his lair in a mountaintop castle in the Belgian Alps, hinting that we know what he's up to - at that time he refused to comment other than cackling darkly. However, he phoned us back this morning and told us to look outside. We subsequently did so, but can't see anything different out there.

Since we have better things to do, would one of our readers be so kind as to keep an eye on this live webcam feed and alert us if you notice anything?

(Does not apply to images attributed to other authors/owners)

Jens Voigt abandons Tour of Britain

German rider Jens Voigt, one of the most popular characters on the professional cycling circuit, has abandoned the Tour of Britain during a rain-soaked and wind-swept first stage.

The 39-year-old LeopardTrek rider had become caught up in a crash involving several riders and his decision to quit was announced by organisers at 13:15. The team announced at 15:32 that he was waiting to have a suspected broken finger X-rayed in hospital, then in a website update later in the afternoon confirmed that the finger is broken and that Voigt will require an operation to repair it.

Voigt's move leaves the Luxembourg-based team without a leader; as one of their strongest riders, this may prove disastrous and is the latest in a series of unfortunate recent events including Andy Schleck's forced departure from the Grand Prix Cyclistes of Québec and Montréal with chronic tooth ache and a disappointing Vuelta a Espana.

"He was our guy for the general classification here,” said directeur sportif Torsten Schmidt on the team's website. “He had a good chance for a strong showing because the time trial in this race can be so decisive."

Meanwhile, Sky's Steve Cummings - who was also in the crash - continued to race after receiving attention by race medics.

Voigt to stay with Schlecks

(CC3.0)

Luxembourg's RTL - generally fairly trustworthy as far as media networks go - is reporting this morning that the German cyclist Jens Voigt of LeopardTrek will remain with Frank and Andy Schleck next season.

It was confirmed earlier this week, the rumour mill having gone into overdrive the week previously, that LeopardTrek will merge with the older Radioshack team next year - however, this has caused controversy as many riders and team officials claim they were left completely in the dark over the plans. As both teams currently have full rosters and the UCI limits every ProTeam to 30 riders, several riders are going to have to be released and search for new contracts.

At 39 years old, Voigt's aggressive riding technique combined with his forthright, articulate and amiable style off the bike has led to him becoming one of the most popular riders among fans. Meanwhile, the Schlecks, while also extremely popular for the affable natures and undoubted skills, are frequently said (including by their own father, ex-professional Johny Schleck) to be "too nice" and to lack the aggression required to win major stage races such as the Tour de France. As the partnership is already proven, new team boss Johan Bruyneel would presumably wish to encourage it to continue.

Cancellara to abandon Vuelta after Stage 16

Cancellara
(CC2.0)

LeopardTrek's Fabian Cancellara, known as the finest time trial rider in the world at his peak, has announced on Twitter that he plans to abandon the Vuelta a Espana following today's Stage 16 so that he can prepare for the upcoming World Championships.

The Swiss rider, nicknamed Spartacus, Tweeted at 10:45(BST):

"Finally a flat stage..........!!! i will leave the vuelta today and will get rest and then prepear the worlds."

Cancellara caused controversy when he left the race in 2010, stating that he needed to spend time with his family - already on bad terms with Saxobank, this move was a large factor in his decision to leave for LeopardTrek at the end of that season. At the Worlds, the TT winner of 2006, '07, '09 and '10 faces his biggest challenge yet - beating the young pretender Tony Martin, HTC-Highroad's TT superstar nicknamed Der Panzerwagen in recognition of the powerful riding style that has now seen him beat the old master on several occasions, most notably in the individual trials at this year's Vuelta and Tour de France.

More merger rumours

Further to the rumoured - and hotly denied - LeopardTrek/Radioshack merger as "revealed" by Geox's manager Joxean Fernandex Matxin late last week, press in Luxembourg are now speculating on a Radioshack/Omega-Pharma-Lotto merger. We'll bring more details on that just as soon as we can find any.

LeopardTrek's Bryan Nygaard

Meanwhile, Italian news sources continue to carry the LeopardTrek/Radioshack story. Claiming that the resultant team would be named RadioshackTrek, Gazetta dello Sport says that Radioshack manager Johan Bruyneel and Leopard's owner Flavio Becca have struck a deal aimed at strengthening the Luxembourg-based team and pushing Andy Schleck towards a Tour de France General Classification victory in 2012

Yet more rumours have hinted at the possibility of Leopard manager Bryan Nygaard going to GreenEDGE if the Radioshack story proves true. However, Cycling News' Australian editor Jane Aubrey has stated on Twitter that she has confirmation from GreenEDGE manager Shayne Bannan that he has not been approached with any such proposal.

Could there be a grain of truth in any of this? We doubt it - but with cycling subject to rapid changes in sponsorship, due in no small part to the still-persistent poor image surrounding doping in the sport, strange things do happen and situations can change very quickly.

LeopardTrek deny Radioshack merger rumours

RadioSchleck?

LATEST ON THE MERGER RUMOURS: CLICK HERE

According to various sources on Twitter - including the respected and trusted blogger Inrng - Geox team boss Joxean Fernandez Matxin has revealed a potential merger between LeopardTrek and Radioshack.

There are no further details available yet and it's very much a rumour rather than news, but should it turn out to be true it'll be one of the biggest stories in cycling this year. A merger would result in what to all intents and purposes would be a superteam, combining the talents of Frank and Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt, Jakob Fuglsang, Levi Leipheimer and others from the two very strong teams.

Matxin himself tweets: "A ver q x aqui hay gente muy sabia e informada..!!! Quien me confirma el rumor de la fusion Leoard - Radio Shak..!!!" which translates as: "See q x here, there are people very wise and informed..! Who confirms for me the rumor of a fusion Leopard - Radio Shack!!!"


However, LeopardTrek spokesperson Tim Vanderjeugde has denied that the story has any basis in reality, also scotching rumours that manager Brian Nygaard is leaving the team after failing to find a main sponsor. "Nobody on our team has heard of any merger. Brian Nygaard is still on the payroll here at Leopard Trek and has not taken any decision to leave the team," he told a reporter from the Danish Sporten website. The French l'Equipe newspaper has speculated that money problems would be behind a merger, should the rumours be true. However, Vanderjeude also denies that LeopardTrek are in any sort of financial difficulty - the team's current roster, existing sponsors (including Mercedes Benz) and ongoing relationship with the Wisconsin-based Trek Bicycle Corporation would appear to confirm this as fact.

Whether it proves true or not (and we strongly suspect not), private comments made by both Nygaard and Radioshack's manager Johan Bruyneel following Matxin's decision to reveal the merger would doubtless be interesting to hear.

LATEST ON THE MERGER RUMOURS: CLICK HERE