Radio Shack signs Brajkovič, shoe shine man Jackson. Astana on empty.

Losing Janez Brajkovič, the eighth rider to leave Astana for Lance Armstrong’s new Radio Shack squad, was bad enough. Now things have gotten completely out of hand.

Bruyneel, the former director of Astana, continues to gut his old team. Now, apparently, he plans to take everybody. Today, Radio Shack announced that Astana shoe shine man  Willie “Grits” Jackson had signed a two year contract with Radio Shack.

The popular Jackson was a fixture on Armstrong’s Discovery team before moving to Astana last year. Jackson was excited about the opportunity, “It’s about about making the team shine, you know? A team got to be polished and that’s my thing.”

Alberto Contador, the winner of the yellow jersey in this year’s Tour de France, finds himself without support riders or shiny shoes. His brother and manager Fran offered no comment on the loss of Jackson. An Astana spokesmen insisted that Jackson still had a year on his contract.

For his part, Johan Bruynell was overjoyed. “This is the final piece of the puzzle. Now we have everything in place for Lance,” said Bruyneel. The affable Jackson seemed to agree, saying, “Man, those Kazaks, bad tippers.”