Skil-Shimano bolster squad ahead of ProTour application
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Bjoern Schroeder (Milram) and Robert Wagner (Skil-Shimano) were feeling a bit punchdrunk from all the rain.(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) takes the final sprint of the tour on a fine afternoon in Xining.(Image credit: Mark Gunter)
Skil-Shimano announced on Thursday that they have secured contract extensions with three of its current riders. Dutchmen Tom Veelers and Roy Curvers will stay with the team until 2011, while German Robert Wagner has agreed to an option in his current contract to stay until the end of 2010.
Both Veelers, 24, and Wagner, 26, have claimed victories for the team this season. Veelers won the final stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake last month and Wagner won stage two of the Delta Tour Zeeland in June.
In his second season with the team Curvers, 29, has been a key lead-out man for both Veelers and Kenny van Hummel, who currently leads the International Cycling Union's (UCI) Europe Tour.
The announcement of the latest contract extensions comes as Skil-Shimano prepares to secure ProTour status for 2010. Team management have met with the UCI to begin the process of applying for the licence.
Last month the team announced that six members of their Tour de France team had agreed to continue with the squad.
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