Eins, zwei, drei: vier, fünf, Schlecks

There's a suggestion, somewhere in folklore, that if you hear a rumour three times, it must be true.

Or is that war-time saying: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

Something like that.

Anyway, we are now hearing rumours that our favourite Schlecks will be going to a new Pro team for next year - with German backing. This is quite extraordinary, when you think that just last week I was discussing how many years it would be before we saw a new German team, after the Germans withdrew their support from cycling due to the doping scandals.

So is it true?

On the one hand, we have Andy saying "it is nonsense" when the Lux site Wort.lu reported that the Schlecks' lawyers were talking to other teams.

On the other hand, we are getting more stories and more details about possible moves, and it's pretty clear that they are not having a good time at the Shack.

We all got a bit excited about the prospect of the Leopards going back to Saxo-Tinker-Bank, but now we have this new idea of a German sponsor joining  up with Trek to make a new team.  This idea is quite an interesting one: Trek had stepped up as a major sponsor, but were disappointed in not being allowed to part of the official team name - you remember, RadioShack-Nissan-Trek was the name announced, but the UCI stood firm on only allowing two sponsor names in the team name.   So if Trek want more publicity - which they do - then becoming co-sponsor in a new team is a good way to do it.

And what better way to get publicity for a new team, than to have the Schlecks involved in it?

Sadly, whatever happens, we are not likely to see Jakob as part of the party: he has angered Mr Bruyneel by loudly saying that he is not happy in a team with so many captains, and that he is likely to move next year. Sometimes, when a rider says things like this, it is a cunning move to get more money, or more attention: and in a sense it worked for Jakob, as he was given Captainship of the Giro. Not his fault he was injured and couldn't ride it: and, to be fair to Mr Bruyneel, it wasn't his fault either, but Jakob does seem to have aired his grievance rather loudly in public, and now we are seeing him being punished for it. No more UCI races for Jakob. No more UCI points. Without UCI points, no chance to increase his market value.

So Jakob will be on the move next year, he's already talking to Uncle Bjarne, but he says - interestingly - that it depends on what Bjarne is planning for the rest of his team, and he - Jakob - doesn't want to go to another team where there are four or more captains.  That is, where he won't have a chance of being a captain himself: Jakob is talented, and ambitious, and realises that he needs a chance to step out of the shadow of the Schlecks.

So he's unlikely to stay with the other Leopards: shame, but there we go, there are times when you have to think of yourself.  Mr Bruyneel seems to be doing his best to give the rest of the world the impression that Jakob is a trouble-making, mouthy, whiner who needs to be punished. Luckily I don't think the rest of the teams will see it that way.

As an aside, do we think that Jakob is kicking himself for leaving SaxoBank?  If he hadn't gone with the Leopards, he would have been just about the best rider in the team, after the Conti business. Ah well, who knows, if he had stayed, and Conti had not been banned, then he might have found himself riding domestique for Conti for two years... who can tell.