There had been suggestions earlier this week that he had infringed rules set in place by the UCI by negotiating with Australian riders who were already under contract with other top level teams. Under the regulations, formal negotiations can only take place after August 1.
Bannan, the former head of Australia's high performance program, said that most contact with riders interested in the project was a result of him having long-standing relationships with them.
Several Australian riders have already been linked to GreenEdge, including new national road champion Jack Bobridge and Cameron Meyer – both of whom are on contracts with Garmin-Cervelo that will expire at the end of this season.
Garmin-Cervelo's sports director, Australian Matt White is also rumoured to be joining the new project which, if everything goes to plan, will join the ProTeams in 2012.
The rumours had particularly angered Garmin-Cervelo boss Jonathan Vaughters who fired a warning: "While I understand the strong national pride of Australians and understand the desire to have a team of their own, if any employment discussions of any sort occur with any of our riders outside of the mandated transfer time then we will pursue the appropriate legal action."
Bannan says this simply won't be necessary.
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"Obviously it's in our best interests to target the best Australians who are out of contract at the end of 2011," said Bannan. "At the appropriate time we will be in more formal negotiations."
As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.
