“I was amazed, but also a little tickled, to see the speculation about me the last few days,” said Andreas Klöden. “After I said that I would discuss my sporting future with my management, everyone started talking, even naming which teams I might be negotiating with.”

“The fact is that this season, with all of its well-known events, has been anything other than satisfactory,” the Team Astana rider said on his website, andreas-kloeden.com. “I have a two-year contract with Astana until the end of 2008.”

He didn’t entirely rule out the possibility of a new team, though, saying, “Even though the future of the team is unclear at the moment, I want to wait a few more days before I start thinking about making a change. So far I have always lived up to my obligations and my word.”

“I am sure that the team management has learned a lot from the recent past,” he continued, “and is now doing everything it can to present a persuasive and well-thought-out anti-doping concept, which will provide a clean and credible future for cycling.”

“Therefore I, like all the other team members, would be happy if the Astana Team gets a second chance, and we could all together prove that we are serious about this.”