Ineos Grenadiers have announced their third signing of the off-season as they bring in another young rider for 2022. 21-year-old Kim Heiduk is joining the team on a two-year deal from Continental squad Lotto-Kern Haus.
Heiduk is the current German U23 road race champion and has delivered some notable results during the 2022 season, including fourth at the Tour of Rhodes, second at the Orlen Nations Grand Prix plus a stage win and second overall at the Tour d'Eure-et-Loir.
He joins Ben Tulett (Alpecin-Fenix), Luke Plapp, and Magnus Sheffield (Rally Cycling) on the incoming list, with more signings expected to come later on Monday.
"As soon as I heard about Ineos' interest, I knew it was the right team for me. It was an incredible feeling. I'm delighted to become a Grenadier," Heiduk said in a team press release.
"I'm a very disciplined rider and I'm focused on what I need to improve over the next two years. I believe I can be good in the Classics, and I've had a lot of fun in those races. I see myself as a pretty good sprinter, but I don't know where I'll be with the pros. It's not very easy to win a race solo, so it's good to have a sprint.
"I can't wait to experience lots of different races next year. It will be all about discovery and development."
Most of Heiduk's best results came at the start of the season this year, with his late season affected by a crash at the Tour de l'Avenir and then a shoulder injury sustained in a training accident, which forced him to miss the World Championships in Belgium.
"The first part of my year was very good. In all of my races, I feel that I had good results or did a good job for the team," Heiduk said. "But the second half has been tough – I crashed in Tour de l’Avenir and after a few days off, I got back into racing at the Deutschland Tour, but the legs weren’t quite there as I hoped.
"I then had a training accident with a car and a week before the worlds the doctor said my shoulder was still not ready to compete. Mentally, that was quite hard, but I’ve put that behind me now and am enjoying my end to the season."
Heiduk will be the second German rider to race for Ineos Grenadiers following Christian Knees, who was on the team from 2011 to 2020. He said that he is in close contact with his compatriot, who now works as development sports director at the team.
"The first ride with Christian was great and we spoke a lot. He lives a few hours away from me so we’ve not been able to ride together much since, but we’ve spoken a lot - we have contact nearly every day. I feel really comfortable and have nothing but good feelings about joining the team."
While Heiduk is one of four riders announcing as signing for the team for next year, there are more names on the outgoing list, which is headed up by Rohan Dennis (to Jumbo-Visma), and Gianni Moscon (Astana Qazaqstan). Sebastián Henao and Leonardo Basso are also heading to Astana, while Iván Sosa moves to Movistar and Owain Doull to EF Education-Nippo, and Michal Gołaš retires.
