Davis to address race team rumours

International cycling star Allan Davis back home in Bundaberg for Christmas competing in the local Criterion.

Ron Burgin

AN ANNOUNCEMENT on Bundaberg cyclist Allan Davis’s racing future is expected this week.

The racing world has been rife with speculation about Davis’s future with the team since he was linked with Kazakh racing team Astana in October this year.

International Cycling news website cyclingnews.com reported last week that Davis had severed ties with Belgian racing team Quick Step, adding further weight to rumours about his imminent move.

The sprinter, who is back in Bundaberg for the holidays, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

But Davis commented on his Twitter page on the weekend that he would “give an update soon on speculations circulating this week”.

In October, Davis confirmed Astana, which won this year’s Tour de France, was one team that was chasing his signature next season.

A move to Astana would mean Davis would be reunited with Tour de France champion Alberto Contador for the third time in his career.

Davis raced with Contador in the Astana-Würth team from 2003-2006, before the pair were reunited in the Discovery Channel team in 2007.

It would also mean Davis could return to being the main sprinter in a major international team after a frustrating season with Quick Step.

Davis started the 2009 season in top form for the team, but soon had to compete for time with Belgian racing star Tom Boonen.

The Bundaberg star lost his spot in the Tour de France after Boonen won an 11th-hour appeal against drug charges.

But Davis would have an opportunity to become a seminal part of the Astana team after an exodus of players to Lance Armstrong’s United States-based RadioShack team.

Eight of Astana’s nine riders left the team at the end of the season to join Armstrong

American Levi Leipheimer and German Andreas Kloden were two of the riders to join the team, while Astana team director Johan Bruyneel also jumped ship to join the US riders.

But Astana have already started the rebuilding process, signing Paolo Tiralongo, David De La Fuente, Andriy Grivko, Enrico Gasparotto and 2006 Tour de France Champion Oscar Pereiro for the 2010 season.