Since its ascension to the top tier of the sport in 2008, the Tour Down Under has proved to be a fertile ground for first-year neo-pros to make their WorldTour debuts. Current World Champion Peter Sagan's 2010 Tour Down Under being the most obvious example.
In 2017, Trek-Segafredo's Ruben Guerreiro is aiming to kick-start his career in the WorldTour with a strong showing in the Australian six-day stage race but his season objectives will come later in the year with the Ardennes, Tour of California and World Championships.
Interest from the WorldTour team in Guerreiro capabilities goes back to 2014 but ramped up in 2015 and finalised in early-2016 as the 22-year-old recorded several breakthrough performances and results in both one-day and stage races with Axel Merckx's development team, Axeon–Hagens Berman.
ADVERTISEMENT
"My agent told me in 2015 that Trek can be a good opportunity but interest in me was from April last year when I did third in Liege and the day after I went to Amstel Gold Race and talked a little with Luca [Guercilena]," Guerreiro told Cyclingnews of his move to the WorldTour where he joins Axeon–Hagens Berman teammate and current US national champion Gregory Daniel.
"I was also interested in the team because of guys like Bob Jungels and Jasper Stuyven and I saw good development for those guys in this team."
Explaining that his move to Axeon was designed around securing a move to the WorldTour, Guerreiro is excited by the possibility of riding alongside and in support of Alberto Contador and Jarlinson Pantano for at least the next two years. With an early-season race programme that mirrors Pantano, Guerreiro is aiming to transfer his good relationship off the bike into a winning one on the bike starting at the Tour Down Under.
Future of Portuguese cycling
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2jluA8Q
No comments:
Post a Comment