Rogers to T-Mobile at season's end?

cyclingpost.com | Michael Rogers linked with T-Mobile move

Money talks, and nobody throws more of it on the table in cycling than T-Mobile. World time trial champion Michael Rogers of Quick Step looks likely to join the string of riders who have vanished into the T-Mobile machine.

From T-Mobile's perspective, Rogers, current race leader at the Tour of Switzerland, could step into the lieutenant/heir apparent role currently filled by Alexandre Vinokourov, who may be headed to Discovery.

Mick's current DS told Het Niewsblad:

"It's a pity," said Quick.Step's manager Patrick Lefévère. "But it's a reality. He's leaving us." Although Lefévère did not say whether he knew if Rogers was signing with T-Mobile, he said, "When I heard the price from his manager Paul De Geyter, I said 'Good luck'. The problem is that boys of his level get paid for what they are expected to achieve, not on the basis of what they've achieved in the past. But he will not be substituted for another big Tour hope. We simply cannot pay for that."

Can he avoid the fate of Paolo Savoldelli, Santiago Botero, Bobby Julich, Cadel Evans, Kevin Livingston, etc.?

Update: Agence France Presse quotes Quick Step press spokesman Alessandro Tegner, who confirms both Rogers' departure and T-Mobile as his destination.