Quick Step in talks with Contador, says team manager

Quick Step are in talks with Alberto Contador about signing the Tour de France champion for next season, the Belgian team's manager said.

Spaniard Contador, one of five riders with wins in all three Grand Tours, Italy, Spain and France, is under contract with the Kazakh-funded Astana team until 2010.

"Right now, we are waiting. We must see whether the International Cycling Union (UCI) are going to grant a ProTour licence to Astana," Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere told the Gazet van Antwerpen.

"If they do not, we would have the opportunity to recruit Contador. We are in concrete talks with him. I have been negotiating with his manager. I have had two interviews with Contador himself, the last one on Friday."

Astana, who have experienced financial difficulties this year, have yet to be granted a licence to race at the highest level next season.

Contador said last week he was still unsure which team he would be racing for in 2010, adding that he had been looking at Caisse d'Epargne, Garmin-Slipstream and Quick Step as possible alternatives.