Beppu in Trouble

Doobz

The immediate future team of Fumiyuki Beppu continues to be in doubt as he failed to turn up to the Skil-Shimano team photoshoot on Monday. The Japanese rider has signed a contract for 2010 with Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team, but Skil-Shimano insists that he is still under contract with them, having extended his deal with the team in the summer.

“Beppu was not at the team [photo] shoot,” Skil-Shimano team manager Iwan Spekenbrink told wielermagazine.com. “We don’t really expect him to be at the team presentation; the only communication between him and us is via lawyers. He was not at the team training camp, but was not at the meeting of training camp of RadioShack. If he wants to ride [this year] he must meet with us and come to a quick settlement.”

It would appear from Spekenbrink’s comments that he is resigned to the fact that Beppu will not be a Skil-Shimano rider this year, but with the extended contract between the rider and the team in place Skil-Shimano expects to be compensated for the loss.

Shimano – one of the team’s two name sponsors – is Japanese, and Beppu was one of only two Japanese riders on the team’s roster in 2009. If Beppu does manage to leave the team it will be left with just Yukihiro Doi representing the sponsor’s nation.

Despite being named in the 26-man RadioShack team roster back in November, Beppu is not listed as a member of either team on the UCI’s website.

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/2771/ ... shoot.aspx

calvjones

Not going to trouble the judges this year anyway!