Unibet wagering on ProTour license

Cooke and van der Schueren talk

Cooke and van der Schueren talk (Image credit: Sirotti)

The Unibet.com team is confident that they will be granted a ProTour license for 2007. Team manager Hilaire Van der Schueren was quoted on sporza.be as saying, "We have met all three of the UCI's conditions, so the chance that we will get a license is 100%. We even received a written confirmation from the UCI that we will get the license".

They've met the financial conditions required for the ProTour license, and have signed contracts with the required 25 riders. The team is, however, lacking an important feature, a team leader. Rumors had linked the Kazakh rider Andrej Kashechkin as a possible addition for Unibet.com. Jacques Hanegraaf told sporza.be "We don't need any more neo-pros, we need a team leader. Kashechkin is a logical candidate, but other teams will be thinking this way". Kashechkin is still officially under contract with Manolo Saiz's Astana team.

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Laura Weislo
Managing Editor

Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.