Colombia want Sánchez before Antón
Corti denies Colombians have made Basque climber an offer
Team Colombia manager Claudio Corti has denied that his team has made an offer to Euskaltel climber Igor Antón, who claimed over the weekend the Colombian outfit is “very interested” in signing him.
Speaking to Ciclismo Internacional, Corti said that “we consider him to be a very good rider and we respect him, but Team Colombia haven’t made him an offer.” The Italian boss of the Colombian team added: “For now we’ve got nothing to say on Antón, our interest is on keeping tabs on Samuel Sánchez’s situation.”
Corti indicated last week that Team Colombia have been speaking to Euskaltel team leader Sánchez, but the 2008 Olympic champion subsequently insisted he had not had any talks with any team in recent weeks. Sánchez’s arrival would certainly boost the profile of the Colombian outfit, which received a wild card to this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Team Colombia have so far confirmed 17 riders for their 2014 roster, with one place left to fill. The team will be led by Fabio Duarte, Jarlinson Pantano, Leonardo Duque and new signing Miguel Ángel Rubiano.
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).