Several of New Zealand's top road cyclists look set to move to different professional teams next year, with the most high profile switch coming from Julian Dean.
The Herald on Sunday understands the 36-year-old's contract with Garmin-Cervelo will not be renewed. He has been linked with the recently created Australian-based GreenEDGE team who are looking to get a UCI pro team licence.
Dean has completed seven Tours de France and his team won the race this year. As part of that success, Dean became just the second New Zealander to win a stage on Le Tour.
Dean has completed a number of grand tours in Italy and Spain and in 2009 was the only cyclist to finish all three grand tours. Last year he finished second on two stages and third on another despite crashing on stage two, receiving a headbutt on stage 11 and being tackled by a member of the gendarmerie before stage 16. Fellow Tour de France competitor Hayden Roulston (2009) is also believed to be keen to sign with GreenEDGE after the demise of his HTC Highroad team. Greg Henderson is leaving Team Sky to join the newly merged Omega Pharma-Quick Step team. Henderson is reverting to a lead-out role for Andre Greipel - the pair raced together at HTC Highroad in 2008 and 2009. Greipel's numerous victories during that period were attributed to Henderson's lead-out skills.
It also worked in Henderson's favour on stage three of the 2009 Tour of Spain when he realised Greipel wasn't on his wheel but had the strength to pull off a grand tour win. Part of the reason not to renew Henderson's contract is believed to be so the British-based Team Sky can convince top sprinter Mark Cavendish to join.
