With the signing of Belgian Classics hope, Nick Nuyens, Saxo Bank boss, Bjarne Riis, has declared his transfer season complete.
The well-tuned Saxo Bank machine was a juggernaut in 2010 - Riis's team did not have the raw wins of HTC-Columbia, nowhere near that, but was a factor from spring to fall. Unfortunately, the creation of the new Luxembourg team along with the lure of new opportunities with new teams for other riders saw a mass exodus from the Danish superteam. Frank and Andy Schleck, Jens Voigt, Jakob Fuglsang, and Stuart O'Grady are all headed for Luxembourg, while Matti Breschel has signed for Rabobank, and Fabian Cancellara is still an unknown, but definitely not part of Riis's squad next season. Even promising young Dane, Alex Rasmussen, has moved on to a new team for 2011. He recently signed with HTC.
The massive losses were hardly worrisome though, as they were offset by the biggest name in all of cycling: Alberto Contador and his royal retinue from Astana. Then came the jaw-dropping news of Contador's positive for clenbuterol at the Tour de France and suddenly, Riis's gigantic signing and savior of his team, is facing a stark future.
Yet, even with the possibility of losing the superstar Grand Tour rider, Riis is content to call his offseason acquisition project done with the signing of perennial underperformer, Nick Nuyens.
"I am satisfied with the riders in the squad, and we must go out and look for a little magic. 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," said the cagey manager of the 2011 SunGard/Saxo Bank team in an interview with politiken.dk.
It would seem an almost of course type thing for Riis to start looking into new riders to replace what could be a gigantic black hole left behind by Alberto Contador if he is in fact suspended, but Riis is firm in his belief that he's still in a decent spot. Of course though, there is a Plan B, there has to be a Plan B, but Bjarne Riis is not keen on sharing his thoughts on Plan B at the moment, preferring to cross his fingers and hope for the best with his new signing from Spain.
"I've thought of Plan B, but what it involves, I will not go into right now."
It comes as little surprise that Riis isn't excited to reveal his Plan B, but it would seem to be a pretty simple idea, especially if he just confirmed that he would not sign any more riders. If Contador is sanctioned, then Riis will have to make do with what he has and do his best to bring out the best in the riders that were supposed to ride in support of Contador, while nurturing the big name talents he still has in the team, like Richie Porte, Gustav Larsson, Chris Anker Sorensen, JJ Haedo, Baden Cooke, and now Nick Nuyens.
Without Contador, the team will lack a superstar name for the Grand Tours, but Richie Porte will likely make another step forward next year and could be a factor for the win in one of the three-week races. The same goes for a rider like Nick Nuyens, who certainly has the pedigree and the former results to at least call him a dark horse in the Spring.
Riis's words on transfer season ending for his team will be disappointing news for a rider that has been knocking on the door to return to the top level with SunGard in 2011: Michael Rasmussen. The Danish climber made a strong case to return to the ProTour level with Riis's team, with or without the signing of Contador - either as a domestique for the Grand Tour winner or as a possibility on his own, but alas, it won't happen for Rasmussen.
For the former Tour de France winner and a manager that has made a name for himself as one of the best in the business, all he can do is sit tight and hope for the best now. Riis knows what he has to do, but that doesn't make it any easier he admits.
"It's hard to take it easy, but I have no choice."