Pro Cycling News – Simoni to Saunier, Linus Iscariot

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I try for every day, but dang it, I’m not a machine. Too bad that I didn’t post, too. Big news on the transfer front: Gibo Simoni’s chosen to hit up Saunier Duval for his paychecks next season. The two-time Giro winner said he went to the yellow machine “not for the money, but to help the group of young riders.” Right. Like you helped Cunego in the 2004 Giro. Between the arrival of Simoni and the return of David Millar, the 2006 Saunier Duval sqaud could also be one of the whiniest in recent memory.

Also making transfer headlines was young Linus Gerdemann, switching from CSC to T-Mobile. The 23-year-old Gerdemann, billed (somewhat portentously) by his *former* DS Bjarne Riis as “the next Jan Ullirch,” was signed to ride for CSC through 2006, but the Boss wasn’t too happy to hear his young protogé had inked a contract with the magenta whirlpool of dysfunction for 2007, and cancelled the contract. Why would you switch to T-Mobile, the team that killed Kevin Livingston’s career, almost killed Bobby Julich’s, put two-year gaps into the palmares of Cadel Evans and Santiago Botero and Paolo Savodelli, where riders regularly retire at age 26, from CSC, a team well-know for its sensationally positive environment and unparalelled rider development? Money is the only reason I can think of.