- HOT TOPICS:
- The new VeloNews.com (BETA)
Barry to T-Mobile; Haedo linked to CSC
Michael Barry is set to join T-Mobile next season in a new contract that could earn him a start in the Tour de France.
Barry, 30, joined Discovery Channel in 2002, but never got the chance to ride the Tour despite strong performances in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.
The Canadian suffered a horrible crash at the Tour of Flanders in April, but returned to racing in June and bounced back to finish third overall in Germany’s Sachsen Tour in July and rode well at the Vuelta.
Barry’s departure comes as Discovery Channel shakes up its post-Armstrong roster, with 11 riders slated to leave the team at the end of the 2006 season. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is looking to reload with new riders in the wake of the Operación Puerto doping scandal that saw the implication of stars Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla.
New T-Mobile manager Bob Stapleton – who managed Barry’s wife, Dede Demet, when she rode at the T-Mobile team in 2002-04 - is expected to unveil a new roster next week in Germany.
In other transfer news, a source at the Argentine national team told VeloNews that top sprinter prospect J.J. Haedo is poised to join Team CSC for the 2007 season. Team officials, however, denied they have signed the 25-year-old Argentine prospect.
Haedo - who rides with Toyota-United on the U.S. circuit - impressed the big European teams during January’s Tour of California.
