KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s national cycling federation (MNCF) plan to enter a team in International Cycling
Union (UCI) tours from 2011 in a bid to improve the country’s flagging road racers.

“I see the setting up of the continental team as very important for road cyclists because they are lagging far behind track cyclists, who are already world class,” MNCF President Abu Samah Wahab told the national news agency Bernama on
Tuesday.

Read the full story

PARIS (Reuters) – Caisse d’Epargne will not renew their sponsorship deal with the ProTour team led by Tour of Spain champion Alejandro Valverde when it expires at the end of the season, the French bank’s parent company BPCE said.

BPCE CEO Francois Perol was quoted by French radio on Friday as saying Caisse d’Epargne would focus on Olympic sponsorship.

“There will be a Caisse d’Epargne team competing in this year’s Tour de France but the deal will come to an end in 2010 and it won’t be extended,” Perol told Radio Classique.

Read the full story

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The Saxo Bank cycling team has enrolled U.S. software group SunGard as a sponsor after Saxo Bank said last week it would withdraw at the end of 2010.

The sponsorship deal between SunGard and Riis Cycling, which rides as Team Saxo Bank, will help the team while it searches for a main sponsor to replace the Danish bank, the team said in a statement.

Saxo Bank, which has sponsored the team since 2008 and took over as the main sponsor at the beginning of last year, said on Friday it would not continue beyond the end of this year as the sponsorship had not lived up to its marketing goals.

Read the full story

SINGAPORE – A growing number of international brands have been signed-up as event partners for the second annual OCBC Cycle Singapore, it was announced today by Spectrum Worldwide, event owner and organiser.   The mass participation cycling event which takes place on 6 & 7 March, 2010 already has close to 6,500 riders taking part.

New event partners include:
•    Bloomberg Television – Official Broadcast Partner
•    Canon – Official Digital Imaging Partner
•    Suunto – Official Timer
•    Tiger Balm – Official Muscle Rub
Read the full story

LONDON (Reuters) – Triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins has joined Britain’s Team Sky on a four-year contract, team principal Dave Brailsford said on Thursday.

“Brad will be at home in Team Sky. It is the perfect fit and he will be a marquee rider for us,” Brailsford said in a statement.

Read the full story

LONDON (Reuters) – Spain’s 2006 Tour de France winner Oscar Pereiro has signed a one-year deal with Astana, the team said on Tuesday. The 32-year-old former Caisse d’Epargne rider said last week he was considering retirement after a contractual dispute with Astana. He said he had agreed a deal last month but the team had then tried to re-negotiate it.

“Pereiro signed a one-year agreement with Team Astana. He will take part in the first training camp in Pisa (Italy) this week,” the Kazakh-funded team said in a statement.

Read the full story

Lance Armstrong’s new professional cycling team will make their racing debut at next year’s Tour Down Under in South Australia, local organisers said on Thursday.

The American made his comeback at this year’s race for the Astana team but the seven-times Tour de France winner told officials he would be back in 2010 racing for Team RadioShack.

Read the full story

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will quit Astana and form a US-based team for 2010.

The new outfit will be known as Team RadioShack and sponsored by the American electronics retail giant.

Armstrong said: “To compete for an American team with the world’s top cyclists, supported by the best coaches and staff – I couldn’t be happier.”

Read the full story

MADRID : Spain’s two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso is planning to set up a cycling team headed by his compatriot Alberto Contador, the 2007 Tour de France winner, a newspaper said Monday.

Alonso has already discussed the project with Contador, who is delighted to take part in it even though he still has a year left on his contract with his current team Astana, sports daily Marca reported without citing any source.
Read the full story

The seven-time champion Lance Armstrong and race favourite Alberto Contador are certain to start the Tour de France on 4 July with Astana after the International Cycling Union suspended investigations into the team’s financial troubles.

Astana’s racing licence was under threat, and their Tour participation in doubt, after the Kazakhstan-backed squad went without wages for a number of weeks due to the failure of sponsors to meet financial obligations. At the Giro d’Italia last month the team erased sponsors’ names from their race jerseys.

Read the full story