A little while back I asked, “Anyone have the 3 mil € for Cancellara?”  And the answer is, apparently, we will never know.

Rumors have been flying ever since Cancellara’s early abandonment of this years Veulta that Riis and Cancellara were parting ways.  Bjarne has now confirmed that an agreement has been reached that will release Cancellara from his contract with Saxo one year ahead of schedule.  There seems to be a high liklihood that Cancellara will now join the Schlecks – and other current Saxo Bank teammates – on the new Luxembourg team being formed.  Another possibility that has been rumored in the works for Swiss time trial champion would be to join BMC – a Switzerland based team.

As will all transfer season rumors, it isn’t decided until the ink dries on the contract.  And you should probably give it a few days after that too.

Bjarne Riis – manager of Team Saxo Bank – may be changing riders faster than some can keep track, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to run a team as a business.  His remaining star rider (not to be confused with is new star rider) Fabian Cancellara still has one year left on his contract.  Due to this contract, and a couple of comments made by Fabian during the initial round of speculations about the Schleck’s new Luxembourg team, it was mostly assumed that Fabian would remain with Riis for the remainder of his contract.

However, comments made by Cancellara himself on his own website have again spurred the rumor mills.

[Translated to English]

And then I often think of the next season. It is an open secret that other teams look for me. I must say that there quite exciting ideas are in the process I would also open up interesting prospects for the longer future – that is also about cycling -.

Since I usually speak an open communication to Bjarne Riis, of course we have about this situation.  I am pleased that Bjarne is the Vuelta and then we can discuss our ongoing issues.  So I hope that I know is after the Tour of Spain as my form and where I will go next year.

Fäbu

Now, it appears that Riis has actually decided on a price for the contract on one Fabian Cancellara.  That price: 3,000,000 € – essential the price that isn’t a price.  It appears highly unlikely that any team is going to fork over that amount of money for the contract of a single rider – even one as successful and sought after as Fabian Cancellara.  But then again, this transfer season as been filled with rumors of things that didn’t happen that could have, or things that should have happened that didn’t.

Indications are coming out – as reported by Velonation and others – that Fabian Cancellara will stay with Saxo Bank-Sungard for the final year of his existing contract.  There have been several rumor about Fabian’s possible signing with the new Luxembourg team of Frank and Andy Schleck, or of a move to the Swiss BMC Racing team.

The Luxembourg move, however, was probably driven more by wishful thinking of the fans of the 2010 Tour de France lineup that Saxo Bank rode with – this writer included.  With a majority of the team jumping ship for new waters – and many of them following the Frank-n-Andy brotherhood – it seemed a reasonable move to speculate.

Objectively, the move to BMC actually would appear to be the more likely.  Fabian, as the Swiss national champ, moving to a Swiss team as a certain logic to it.

However, Cancellara himself has been quoted as saying “”I still have a contract, so I probably will not switch teams”  Even with this in mind, the Velonation article again fans the fires of speculation by stating:

While he has a valid contract, some reports suggest that Riis may need to secure extra money to pay Contador and others. If this is the case, releasing Cancellara would be one way to increase the budget.

It was reported here at JustAnotherCyclist.com that the rumors of brothers Frank and Andy Schleck leaving the Riis Racing team (currently sponsored by Saxo Bank) at the end of this season were indeed true.  However, according to press releases by Bjarne Riis during the Tour de France, that may still not be set in stone.  It was revealed that SunGard – currently a minor sponsor of the team – would step up and fill the title sponsor role being vacated by Saxo Bank at the end of this season.  With this move, according to VeloNation:

With Sungard and the second, unnamed, sponsor on board, Riis will likely be able to afford to keep hold of the team’s two biggest assets: the Luxembourg brothers, Fränk and Andy Schleck. “We will continue at the same level,” said Riis, “We will still aim to be the World’s best cycling team.”

Andy Schleck, however, deflected direct questions and chose to focus on the current Tour de France by saying “Now we will get the Tour out of the way, then we will talk about it later in the year” (VeloNation)

It does not appear that this effects Bryan Nygaard’s plans to start a new pro cycling team based in Luxembourg.  It does, however, spur additional questions about exactly what theam the Schlecks will call home.