After a team source yesterday stated that Bjarne Riis will sell the Saxo team to Oleg Tinkov, further information about that deal has been reported in the Italian media.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the arrangement will see Riis paid six million euros to hand over ownership of the squad to the Russian, and the Dane will also be paid one million euro per year to manage the setup.
As regards the financing of the team, it reports that Tinkov will put in between eleven and thirteen million per season.
It is not clear of Saxo Bank will remain on board; clarification of this and the other details will be revealed at a press conference in London on Monday afternoon. The nationality of the team is also to be clarified.
Irish road race champion Matt Brammeier confirmed to VeloNation this week that intense negotiations had been going on between the team and Tinkov for some time. He had been in talks with the squad and hoped to get a contract but that ultimately didn’t pan out.
According to La Gazzetta, Riis has told his riders that he will act as team manager for four years and that the new deal will enable him to work more closely with the riders as he will not have to concentrate on finances.
The paper suggests that there is still tension between top gun Alberto Contador and Tinkov – who was critical of the Spaniard this summer – but that the rider will see out the remaining two years of his contract.
The press conference will be held in London’s Google offices on Monday. Danish media had speculated that the computer giant would come on board as a sponsor but Shift Active Media, which will stream the event via its GCN company on Monday, has indicated that the location is not indicative of financial backing.
It has a partnership with Google, hence the location of the conference.