Cycling: Both the online portal Cyclingnews and La Gazetta dello Sport report that Team Garmin Sharp will be riding Cannondale bikes in the coming season.
Jonathan Vaughters, Garmin Sharp team manager, announced during the week that Garmin will continue to fulfill contractual obligations in the coming year, but not as title sponsor. He left open whether Sharp will take on this role.
He also did not want to comment on a possible merger between his team and Team Cannondale. Oleg Tinkov, owner of the Tinkoff-Saxo team, announced this via Twitter.
If the rumors are to be believed, Cannondale stars Peter Sagan and Ivan Basso will be in the service of the Russian next year.
Six other riders still under contract with Team Cannondale, including Moreno Moser and Elia Viviani, could then be part of the merger. This suggests two assumptions. On the one hand, Cervélo's contract with Vaughters is expiring, and on the other hand, rumors have been circulating for a long time that Team Cannondale will not continue to exist in the coming year, but that the bike manufacturer would like to remain involved in cycling.
After the Tour de France, it should become clear whether that will be the case in the end. Then Vaughters would like to comment on the future of the team. If both teams merge, there will most likely be no Italian WorldTour team in 2015. Lampre-Merida is based in Lugano, Switzerland.