After the confirmation that Bjarne Riis had been suspended from his role as a DS at Tinkoff-Saxo due to differences with owner Oleg Tinkov and a lack of results, the team is believed to be shortlisting candidates to replace the experienced Dane.

Spanish website Biciciclismo has put forward the Italian Omar Piscina as a lead contender for the job, if Riis was to lose his job all together. He currently works as a DS for the Continental Team Idea 2010 ASD team, which is not the biggest team in the world, but he is favourite as he worked with Tinkov at his last venture into cycling, the Tinkoff Credit Systems team.