Saxo Bank transfer season is over
With Tuesday’s announcement of the signing of Nick Nuyens to Team Saxo Bank-SunGard, team manager Bjarne Riis has announced that the 2011 line-up is complete and the transfer season for the Danish team is over.
"I am satisfied with the riders in the squad, and we must go out and look for a little magic,” said Riis. “Nick Nuyens may be an outsider or an underdog in the Classics, but I hope to get him back to the level he had a couple of seasons
ago."
Nuyens has been riding for Rabobank for the last two years. Before that, the 30-year-old cyclist rode for both Quick Step and Cofidis and won the Tour of Britain and two one-day races in 2005, his best year so far. Both of those earlier
teams invited him back when his contract with Rabobank expired, but Riis made a better offer.
“The choice was not easy,” said Nuyens. “I had a great time at both QuickStep and Cofidis. But Patrick Lefevere could only offer me a one-year-contract and the French mentality is not my thing. With Saxo Bank, I found a lot of enthusiasm about my future,
also the whole team looks forward to my transfer. Moreover, the team philosophy speaks to me."
Riis made a masterful move in signing Alberto Contador after the Schleck brothers left his team to form the Luxembourg Cycling Project and took many of his riders with them. Contador brought in a number of his Spanish support riders from Astana and the team
looked set to continue its powerful Grand Tour reputation. That was, until Contador’s positive test for banned substance Clenbuterol was revealed to the public.
"I've thought of Plan B, but what it involves, I will not go into right now," said Riis of his plans for the possibility of a 2011 season without Contador.
Without the three-time Tour de France winner, Saxo Bank will not have a big name to contend in the Grand Tours, though Nuyens and Richie Porte could both be called dark horses. Nuyens had at one time been frequently compared to Tom Boonen, but has been under-performing
in his time with Rabobank. He explained that he just didn’t click with that team and is hopeful that the transfer will turn things around for him.
“First of all, I'm grateful that a big personality like Bjarne Riis recognizes my potential and wants to work with my talent,” said Nuyens. “The past two years of my career haven't been the best but with this unique chance at Saxo Bank-SunGard, I have an
opportunity to become stronger than ever.”
Contador is already provisionally suspended from competition while the matter is investigated. Despite his consistent denial of the accusation that he had undergone autologous blood transfusions at the Tour de France, a long list of doping and medical professionals
have publicly expressed that his innocence is unlikely.
Peter Van Eenoo, the head of the anti-doping laboratory in Ghent, has explained that Contador’s tainted meat defense is unlikely. He also rejected the Spaniard’s suggested that there should be a minimum threshold before a rider can be penalized for the substance.
“If I took a lot and you tested me an hour later, I might still have a lot in my system, but if you tested me in four or five days, it might be there in small quantities and you wouldn’t know what effect it had had,” said Van Eenoo, explaining that a small
amount is just an indication of a larger amount at an earlier date.
Though the doctor admitted that it is possible to consume clenbuterol accidentally, he said that cyclists are still responsible for what entered blood, whether accidental or no. If Contador’s defense is accepted, the World Anti-Doping Agency has said that
he will likely still be banned, though for only one year rather than two.
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