Report: Sky and Garmin keen on Nieve

While Euskaltel Euskadi is everything but likely to be seen on the WorldTour circuit in 2014, its top riders are apparently not having any trouble finding suitors on the sport's top table.

Samuel Sánchez, Mikel Landa and the Izagirre brothers can all reportedly join rival WorldTour teams in the off-season in the likely scenario that Euskaltel does cease to exist materializes. Unsurprisingly, that also seems to be the case with climbing duo Mikel Nieve and Igor Antón.

The former, fresh off a highly successful Tour de France debut appearance, is according to BiciCiclismo attracting admiring glances from powerhouses Team Sky and Garmin-Sharp - Movistar and Saxo-Tinkoff are also thought to be interested.

The latter has already been linked with Lampre-Merida, but, according to he trustworthy website, several other teams are also monitoring his situation.

BiciCiclismo writes that Astana and Omega Pharma-QuickStep have also made their interest in the duo known, but stops short of revealing which of the two riders the teams are keen on.

Both riders are under contract with Euskaltel next year, though, meaning they're more than likely to stay on should Igor González de Galdeano succeed in his sponsor hunt.

Photo: Iñaki Azanza