Caisse d'Epargne signs Colombians, and Stephens

Spanish team Caisse d'Epargne has announced the signing of two Colombian riders, Marlon Pérez Arango and Rigoberto Uran, for the next two seasons. Marlon Pérez, 31 years of age, has been a professional rider for seven years. He won the Gold medal of the Points race at the Junior Track World Championships in 1994.

Rigoberto Uran, who is only 20 years old, is one of the biggest hopes of Colombian cycling, winning the eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse this year.

Caisse d'Epargne also announced that Australian Neil Stephens will be the team's new sport director after having been less involved with cycling this season. Stephens has been living in the Basque country for years and brought some well-known Australian riders to Europe, like brothers Allan and Scott Davis, or Aaron Kemps. Stephens competed from 1985 to 1998, amongst others in the team ONCE. Later, he became directeur sportif at Liberty Seguros before working as part-time consultant for the Australian cycling federation.