2003 MTB world champion Filip Meirhaeghe has signed a three-year contract with Belgian Continental Pro team Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, for whom he had already raced in 2002. The 34-year-old will participate in road and MTB races, as this discipline is still the Belgian's greatest ambition. Therefore, the team has announced the creation of a mountainbike squad named Versluys-Landbouwkrediet-Sportstech.
"I've known Filip Meirhaeghe as a valuable rider on road, mountainbike and even track," said the team's general manager Gerard Bulens. "Indeed, I'm a great supporter of his and want to give him a second chance." Meirhaeghe tested positive for EPO at the Mont Saint Anne race in Canada in June 2004 and then admitted his doping offence openly. While being punished with a 15-month ban from cycling, the Belgian wrote a book Positive. His ban is due to end on January 14, 2006.
