Although he is enjoying good support from Quick.Step in the Tour de Suisse, Michael Rogers will ride his next season in the pro peloton in the colours of T-Mobile. The official announcement is due only after September 1, 2005 - the beginning of the transfer period - but Belgian paper Het Nieuwsblad had the story already today.
"It's a pity," said Quick.Step's manager Patrick Lefévère. "But it's a reality. He's leaving us." Although Lefévère did not say whether he knew if Rogers was signing with T-Mobile, he said, "When I heard the price from his manager Paul De Geyter, I said 'Good luck'. The problem is that boys of his level get paid for what they are expected to achieve, not on the basis of what they've achieved in the past. But he will not be substituted for another big Tour hope. We simply cannot pay for that."
