Disappointed French pair leave Team Sky
French riders Nicolas Portal and Sylvain Calzati have both decided to leave new outift Team Sky after only one season.
The pair were critical of their British team after a disappointing 2010 season, during which neither Portal nor Calzati, both 31, reached the goals they had set out for themselves.
Speaking to L'Equipe, Calzati said he has signed for Bretagne-Schuller, Manu Hubert's French outfit, where he is expected to assume the role of team leader. Portal is still looking for a team, but may retire to pursue a career in cycling management.
"Cycling is still about riding your bike," said Calzati, who criticised Sky and Dave Brailsford's management of the team for not delivering the results that had been set out. "But when the scientific part becomes too important, that makes your brain work
more than anything else. But the basis of everything is training on the road. They've got a lot of theories, but if you look at the results, they have not lived up to their expectations."
Sky began competing in January, and entered all three Grand Tours during the the team's first UCI ProTour season.
Calzati missed half of the 2010 season due to an intestinal virus, and Portal, having suffered from a hearing problem in 2009, could not secure a place in Sky's lineup for the Tour de France in July.
Among Sky's successes this season were Bradley Wiggins' stage win at the Giro d'Italia and Greg Henderson's two wins at the Tour of Britian. Edvald Boasson Hagen also won three stages, the points classification and the young rider classification at this
year's Tour of Oman.
Neither Portal nor Calzati were able to add anything to the team's achievements, and the latter expressed disappointment at having been neglected for the team's 2011 season.
Calzati went on to say, "I've had no sign of life from the team since the moment Sky told me I hadn't been selected for the Tour de France. Even today, they haven’t officially told me that I haven't been kept in the team."
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