By Monika Prell
Caisse d'Epargne's signing of the young Ángel Madrazo caused a quarrel between the rider and Scott - American Beef's sport manager Josean Fernández Matxin, who said that he feels cheated by Madrazo and his manager, Fernando Ateca.
"I had a covenant with the rider, and I feel deceived," said Matxin to todociclismo. "I won't criticize Eusebio Unzué. They offered him a contract and he signed. I don't have anything to say." What upsets Matxin is that "they had wrapped up the deal, and he went on calling me to define a contract."
Madrazo rode for the amateur version of the Scott-American Beef team, formerly Team Saunier Duval, and he is seen as one of Spanish Cycling's most promising riders. Going to the ProTour in 2009 was the next logical step for Maxtin.
"Madrazo is a very young rider, and I believe that his debut in professional cycling is not happening in the best way possible. He always said that he wanted to ride in my team, and in the end he did not do what he said."
"I gave him freedom to negotiate with the other teams, but when I found the sponsor (for 2009), I called him to guarantee that he would sign with us and to show him my trust...and my trust was repaid by being betrayed," Matxin lamented.
Madrazo reacted promptly. "Matxin gave us the green light to negotiate, and he only asked us to sign for a good team, not for a second tier team," said Madrazo to todociclismo. 'In the end, I got the Caisse d'Epargne offer, and I that it's normal I accepted. It's already October 25, and Matxin still has not announced the name of his team's sponsor for 2009. What should I wait for? And what happens if in the end nothing emerges?"
The 20 year-old Madrazo added, "I felt comfortable on the amateur team, and I insist that Enrique Aja [Director of the amateur Scott American Beef team] had no bearing on what happened. The decision to go to Caisse d'Epargne is mine," he confirmed.
Next up, Madrazo said he will focus on fulfilling expectations of his new team, which recently won the UCI ProTour classification. "Now I want to concentrate on my work and show Unzué right away that he had not made a make a mistake in signing me."
