Milram signs young riders

By Susan Westemeyer

Team Milram will be looking to youth next season. The squad announced Friday that it has signed seven young talents for the coming season. Leading the list is U23 road World champion Peter Velits.

Velits, 22, of Slovakia, and his twin brother Martin come over from Team Wiesenhof-Felt, which is folding at the end of the year. Peter has won the Slovak U23 Individual Time Trial title twice, and Martin has won the Slovak U23 road title twice.

Christian Kux, 22, is the first "graduate" of the Milram Continental Team to join the ProTour team. He won the overall title in the International German U23 Championships this year.

Artur Gajek, 22, also comes from Wiesenhof. He won the Belgian one-day race Omloop van het Houtland in 2006.

Two 20 year-olds are also joining Milram. Dominik Roels rode this year for the Continental Team Akud-Rose. In 2006 he won both the German national road and time trial championships. Luca Barla leaves the U23 team UC Bergamasca. He rode as a stagiaire for Milram this year. The oldest of the group is Markus Eichler, 25. He rode this year for Unibet.com. In 2006 he won the Ronde van Drenthe.

Jochen Hahn will become a trainer and sport director for the young riders. He has been team manager at Team Akud-Rose.