Hans-Michael might leave Team Katusha after the 2012 season
It has been reported by L’Equipe earlier, that Team Katusha Manager Hans-Michael Holzcer might end his associations with the Russian team after having a conflict with the team’s star rider Joaquim Rodriguez.
It has been allegedly said that the cyclist was unhappy after the lack of support given by Holczer at the Tour of Lombardy and also about the renewal of his contract which became so serious that the German has decided to resign from his job.
Rodriguez is the team’s top performer and the Russian team would do anything to ensure its best cyclist has no complaints from the side.
He joined the team back in 2010, helping the side with several superb performances in the past seasons and has been a major UCI point contributor for his team throughout.
"When we extended Joaquim's contract to 2013 [announced on April 22, 2012 - ed.], it was supposed to be re-negotiated according to his results, but then things became complicated," the rider's manager Ángel Edo told Bicicilismo earlier this month.
"We were supposed to have a meeting with Holczer, Igor Marakov [President of the Itera Group - ed.] and sports director Valerio Piva at the Worlds, but Makarov didn't show up”.
“Now, everyone says the other is responsible for the situation," he concluded.
The tension between the two parties started right after the team decided to replace Andrei Tchmil in 2012.
Edo noted that, Andrei Tchmil was a fair person and with him as a Manager, this would never have happened.
“The contract was revised, but remained under Joaquim's level, who's had other proposals. Without Freire and Rodriguez, the team wouldn't be in the WorldTour," he concluded.
The 33-year-old currently holds the top overall position at the UCI World Tour Elite Men rankings with as many as 692 UCI points to his credit.
He has defeated the Tour de France 2012 winner, Bradley Wiggins with a huge margin of 91 points and is comfortably placed at the top position.
Tom Boonen (410 points), Vincenzo Nibali (400 points) and Alejandro Valverde (394 points) secured the third, fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Rodriguez was at the second position but his recent victory at the Tour of Lombardy earned him enough point needed to bag an overall victory at the rankings.
The cyclist rode brilliantly throughout the Giro d’Italia and finished second overall after the final general classifications, along with the first point’s classifications spot and two stages at the race.
He was looking good to claim an overall victory at the third and the last Grand Tour race of the season, the Vuelta a Espana 2012 but could not restrict Alberto Contador who achieved the top position at the race.
Joaquim secured three stages at the Spanish Grand Tour and achieved the third overall position with Alejandro Valverde at the second position.
Viatcheslav Ekimov will be the team’s new Manager effective immediately as announced by the management earlier this week.
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