Johansson joins Orica GreenEdge

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Swedish champion Emma Johansson has confirmed that she will be joining the Orica GreenEdge women's team in 2013.

The 29-year-old told Eurosport.se that she will be one of the leaders of the Australian team, stepping into the gap left by retired time trial world champion Judith Arndt.

"It will be really exciting," Johansson said of her move. "I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to drive for a big team. This is a dream I had and it was time for a change. A place opened up in the squad when Judith Arndt left after the season and they wanted someone with experience. I will be one of the leaders."

Johansson had a competing offer from the Dutch team Dolmans-Boels, which also signed Britons Lizzy Armitstead and Lucy Martin, but her instincts led her to opt for the Australian team.

"Green Edge has a solid foundation to stand on, with the men's team, and they work closely with the Cycling Australia. It's really professional."

A silver medalist in the 2008 Olympic Games, Johansson has challenged for the top of the women's standings of the UCI World Cup. She has only one round to her name, the 2009 Ronde van Drenthe, but has been second in both La Flèche Wallonne Féminine and the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in two separate years.

Her 2012 season started off poorly after she broke both collarbones in a training crash, but with an eye on qualifying Sweden for the Olympic Games, she quickly recovered and returned to racing before the first World Cup. She took third in the Ronde van Drenthe, and went on to win the South African Tour de Free State stage race, securing an additional spot for her country in London.

She claimed both her road and time trial national championships, won a stage of the Giro Donne and was third overall in the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen, a race she won in 2011.