Astana struggling to keep hold of Tour de France champion Alberto Contador

From Richard Moore of the Guardian UK:

The protracted saga of which team Alberto Contador will ride for next season took another twist yesterday when it emerged that the Tour de France winner's Astana team has not yet met the International Cycling Union (UCI)'s criteria for a ProTour licence. If the Kazakhstan-backed team is not awarded the licence, which ensures entry to cycling's top races, then Contador will be granted his wish to break the final year of his contract and move to another team.

That is a scenario that could have implications for Team Sky, the new British squad, which is attempting to coax Bradley Wiggins from Garmin-Slipstream, to whom the British rider is under contract for 2010. Garmin is one of three teams interested in Contador and, if the Spaniard becomes a free agent, they will swoop, along with the Belgian Quickstep team and Spain's Caisse d'Epargne. If Contador goes to Garmin, then it seems likely that Wiggins would be allowed to complete the move to Sky.

The biggest "if" for the moment, however, concerns the future of the Astana team, which came into existence in mid-2006, with a multimillion pound budget and backed by a consortium of Kazakh companies. But this year, despite the fact that Lance Armstrong made his comeback with the squad, riding for no salary, the team has suffered financial problems, casting its future into doubt.

Yesterday the UCI confirmed that the deadline for the submission of the documents for ProTour licence renewal has passed, which could mean that Contador is already, in effect, a free agent. "The rider may terminate the present contract, without notice nor liability for damages if, on 20 October of the year preceding a year of registration covered by the present contract, the UCI ProTeam has not submitted a registration file containing the essential documents," said the UCI.
Contador's brother and manager, Fran, issued a statement saying that the two-time Tour de France winner's "lawyers are studying all the details of the UCI rules to take the [appropriate] decision in the coming days. They have to clarify if the newly introduced article [a clause allowing Contador to leave if Astana loses its ProTour status] is applicable. According to the specialists, the application of the law can be confusing, which is why we need to be certain before taking any action."

Meanwhile, another Garmin rider, Chris Sutton, yesterday confirmed himself as the 17th rider to sign for Team Sky. Sutton is the nephew of British coach Shane Sutton, and his recruitment is little surprise, though there is no question of the Australian not being signed on merit. As he put it: "If I was a crappy bike rider, I wouldn't be going there."

Sutton, a 25-year old who won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain, told Cyclingnews: "I've had a lot of second placings this year, and they've looked at that fact. But with the stage win at the Tour of Britain, the second on general classification there, and then what I did at the Herald Sun Tour [where he won three stages and placed second overall to Wiggins], I've stepped it up this year. They believe in me, they believe I can take the next two steps."