The rider transfers guide for 2012-2013
The 2012 season is well passed the half way mark and most of the cyclists have already started picking up their new homes for the season ahead.
Cyclists who have posted good performances in the current season are most likely to get lucrative contracts for the coming year.
The UCI points earned by a rider in a season are transferred with him, if he decides to choose a different team.
Most of the sides strive to retain their star players by making high-profitable offers to ensure the team makes the most out of the points earned.
UCI points are very important for team as they determine the side’s UCI World Tour ranking and can also make an impact at its World Tour license.
Court of Arbitration of Sport banned Alberto Contador from professional cycling as he was charged with doping at the Tour de France 2010.
All the UCI points earned by the cyclist since the 2010 version of the French race till date of the decision (February 2012) were disqualified which caused a lot of problems for his side, Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank.
Almost 70 % of the total points earned by the Danish team came through the Spaniard and his disqualification almost caused Bjarne Riis’ team its World Tour license.
However, UCI allowed the team to continue enjoying the top level of the sport for the remaining part of the season.
Bjarne managed to find a new sponsor, Tinkoff Bank and the team name was immediately changed from Team Saxo Bank to Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank.
The main purpose of finding a new sponsor was to make sure the team has the best cyclists for the 2013 season.
The latest addition in the side is the signing of Nicolas Roche after the Irishman left Team Ag2r-La Mondiale after spending a period of four years with the side.
The cyclist made the announcement in a column in the Irish Independent earlier, “I’m happy to reveal that, after eight years of racing with French teams”.
“I have decided to head in a new direction and have signed a two-year deal with one of the strongest teams in the world, the Danish registered Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank team,” Roche noted.
While commenting on his first conversation with Nick Gates, Roche cited, “Those few minutes that we spent talking about the possibility of me joining his team almost gave me goose bumps”.
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