Spanish continental team Comunidad Valenciana will pass on trying to make a jump to the ProTour in 2006. According to an interview in the Spanish sports daily AS, team officials say the ProTour demands are simply beyond their budget. “They demand that we considerably increase our budget to enter the ProTour and at this moment we’re not ready to do it,” said team manager José Luis Aznar in AS. “We saw what happened to Giancarlo Ferretti and we’ve opted to remain prudent and wait one more year.”

Carlos Garcia Quesada and Javier Pascual during this year's Vuelta. The team plans to remain a Continental squ

The announcement comes as a surprise as Comunidad Valenciana has been one of the most vocal critics of the new ProTour league, which inaugurated this season with the top teams guaranteed – and required – to race all the major events on the racing calendar.

Throughout the season, team officials decried the ProTour and insisted it deserved a spot in the new 20-team league.

Aznar made reference to the recent meltdown of Ferretti’s proposed Sony Ericsson team, which fizzled late last week when the telecommunications firm announced it had no intention of sponsoring a bicycle team.

Officials from Comunidad Valenciana, sponsored by the tourism board of the Spanish province along the Mediterranean Coast, said the team is in negotiations with three potential co-sponsors, but didn’t want to try to force the issue until all the paperwork is signed.

“Our intention is to sign a contract with one of them before the end of the year, but we still don’t have it and right now it’s impossible for us to meet the demands of the ProTour,” said Aznar, adding a bid is likely for 2007. “Then we’ll be ready. We are asking the sponsors for a commitment of at least three years.”

With Ferretti’s team a bust and Comunidad Valenciana taking itself out of considering, it’s looking more likely Ag2r will move into the final ProTour slot vacated by Fassa Bortolo.

The French team bolstered its lineup this year, signing Tour de France contenders Francisco Mancebo and Christophe Moreau.

For 2006, Comunidad Valenciana has signed José Antonio Pecharromán, the former Quick Step rider who made a big splash in 2003 when he won Bicicleta Vasca and Volta a Cataluyna, but has gone winless since. Other new riders for next year include Julián Sánchez Pimienta (Fassa Bortolo), Ezequiel Mosquera (Kaiku), Ukraine Oleg Chouzhda and Vicente Peiró and neo-pro Claudio Casas (Soxtec).

Leaving the team are the García Quesada brothers, Francisco Cabello (to Andalucía-Paul Versán), Javier Pascual Llorente and Angel Casero, who are both retiring, and Carlos Zárate and Agustín Alonso. Di Luca re-ups for two years
Newly crowned ProTour champion Danilo Di Luca has signed a two-year contract extension to stay with Liquigas-Bianchi through the 2007 season, the team announced.

“With the team, I’ve worked with ideal human and technical conditions,” Di Luca said. “Thanks to all that, this has been the best season of my career. With their support, I will try to win the Giro d’Italia next year.”

Bettini wants Flanders win
Fresh off his eighth career classics victory in Saturday’s Giro di Lombardia, Paolo Bettini said he still has some unfinished business when it comes to one-day races.

A winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège (twice), Milan-San Remo, HEW Cyclassics, Clásica San Sebastián, Championship of Zurich (twice) and Lombardia, Bettini said he wants to win the Tour of Flanders in the coming season.

“I’d love to win Flanders, but Amstel Gold Race is a race that’s more suited to my style of racing,” Bettini told La Gazzetta dello Sport. Bettini admitted “three week races” aren’t his strength, but said he will continue to try to animate the grand tours with attacks and stage victories.

More contract newsEuskaltel-Euskadi will keep Iker Camaño for a third season for the Basque team. Camaño turned pro with Phonak in 2002 and enjoyed strong rides this year at Paris-Nice and the Tour of Germany.David López, Anton Luengo and Gorka Verdugo have also penned one-year deals with the team.Belgian rider Staf Scheirlinckx has extended with Cofidis for one year. The 26-year-old turned pro with Colstop in 2000 and joined Cofidis in the 2004 season.Cristian Moreni, one of the riders who had signed with Giancarlo Ferretti’s failed Sony Ericsson team, has also signed with Cofidis for one season.

Heras bike goes for 24K
The online auction of Roberto Heras’s winning bike from the 2005 Vuelta a España has netted 24,600 euros (about $29,400) to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Heras made history this year by taking a record fourth Vuelta title after a dramatic battle in the Cantabria Mountains of northern Spain.

It turns out the winning bid was made by Liberty Seguros-Würth team manager Manolo Saiz, who said he will display the bicycle in a museum at the headquarters of team co-sponsor Würth.

“The idea wasn’t to get Roberto’s bike at any price, but I had the idea I was only going to leave it to someone else at a very high price,” Saiz said. “The most important thing is that we raised money for the hurricane victims and that we’re going to keep the bike for sentimental reasons for everyone at the team.”

Heras sold the bike on eBay's Spanish web site and nearly matched the online auction record price of 28,050 euros that was garnered for a soccer ball that David Beckham made a scoring goal.