According to his agent Louis Meintjes has already been approached by at least two WorldTour teams with regards to his future should the TJ Sport team - known as Lampre-Merida this season - fail to gain a UCI license.
The Chinese squad's future remains uncertain due to questions surrounding their funding for next season and they have a deadline of December 15 to meet with the UCI if they are to prove themselves as a legitimate outfit. Should they fail to do so Meintjes, Rui Costa and Ben Swift will be among the riders scrambling for contracts.
"As it stands right now, if they don't get the WorldTour licence it's a problem," Meintjes' agent, Robbie Hunter told Cyclingnews.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's a problem for the riders, the team in essence, and Louis. We are lucky enough that there's been a few enquiries if things don't go the right way with the team for next year. There are certain options but nothing is concrete at this time but there have been basic enquires."
Meintjes was second best young rider in the Tour de France this season and eighth overall, and finished top 10 in the Criterium du Dauphine and seventh in the Olympic Games Road race. It should come as little surprise that the two teams who have opened discussions with Hunter over Meintjes' future are Dimension Data and the Bahrain Merida team.
Meintjes rode for Dimension Data – then known as MTN-Qhubeka – between 2013 and 2015 but he moved to Lampre in 2016 in order to link up with Brent Copeland, a previous manager at MTN. Copeland tried to bring Meintjes with him to Bahrain Merida but the South African rider was unable to move after TJ Sport took over his existing two-year deal with Lampre. However, should TJ Sport fail to register in time, Meintjes will be able to sign for another team.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2h7G6Bh
No comments:
Post a Comment