{"id":22389,"date":"2013-09-04T02:02:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T00:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/contador-may-join-alonsos-euskadi-team\/"},"modified":"2013-09-04T02:02:48","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T00:02:48","slug":"contador-may-join-alonsos-euskadi-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/contador-may-join-alonsos-euskadi-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Contador may join Alonso\u2019s Euskadi team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"Alberto<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberto Contador. Photo: File<\/p>\n

Formula One driver Fernando Alonso\u2019s rescue of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team has prompted speculation from Gazzetta dello Sport that his friend Alberto Contador might join the squad next season.<\/p>\n

Although Contador has a contract with Saxo-Tinkoff for the next two seasons, Gazzetta claims that manager Bjarne Riis is struggling to find the funds to pay his estimated salary of \u20ac4.5 million per year.<\/p>\n

Riis is reportedly in the process of negotiating a deal that would see Oleg Tinkov remain in place as a backer of the team next year in spite of the announcement of the dissolution of their partnership last month.<\/p>\n

Following Tinkov\u2019s withering \u2013 and repeated \u2013 criticism of Contador via Twitter in the wake of his fourth-place finish at the Tour de France, it was announced that the Russian magnate\u2019s Tinkoff Credit Systems would no longer sponsor Riis\u2019 team in 2014 due to disagreements \u201con how the team should be run.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Gazzetta, Contador\u2019s relationship with Riis has also become strained since the Tour \u2013 in public, there appeared to be some initial disagreement regarding Contador\u2019s decision not to defend his Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a title \u2013 and the Italian newspaper speculates that \u201cthe team manager could have an interest in letting Contador go and proceeding with Tinkov.\u201d<\/p>\n

However this would leave Riis without a high-profile team leader for the Grand Tours.<\/p>\n

Speculation linking Contador with a move to an Alonso-backed team is not new<\/a>, of course, and dates back to when the driver first expressed an interest in owning a cycling team at the start of the 2009 Tour de France, a period in which Contador was unsuccessfully looking to leave the Astana squad.\u00a0– Cycling News<\/p>\n

For more Alberto Contador news,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more breaking sporting news and views, visit MySport24 on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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