Rodriguez's manager denies his rider wants to leave Katusha

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Joaquim Rodriguez's manager Angel Edo, has vigorously denied reports in a Spanish newspaper that the world's number one ranked rider has decided to to leave Katusha.

The report, in El País, claimed that Rodriguez had reached a provisional agreement with another team for a three-year deal, and that he had called his manager to ask him to negotiate a release from his current contract with the Russian squad due to their WorldTour licence problems. Edo denies that any of this is true.

“There is no news, we are in exactly the same situation as before,” Edo told Cyclingnews.

“We’re waiting for a resolution from CAS over the case, we’ve got a contract signed for 2013 with Katusha and if the team is admitted into the WorldTour we have to fulfill that contract.”

“If not, then we’ve already made it clear that Rodriguez wants to ride in a team that’s in the Tour de France, and which is 100 percent sure of that. That’s what the World’s number one deserves.”

Edo said that “Nothing has changed. But as so much time is passing, all over different people in the media are trying to leak the names of possible teams.”

“We’re a bit fed up with all of this, but we haven’t got much choice until there’s something definitive from CAS.”