Armstrong's Radioshack strengthen as Zubeldia dithers
Gert Steegmans in Moscow at the start of the year for the Katusha presentation. The contract between the two was dissolved this week (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Having announced at the weekend that he is set to leave Quick Step after five seasons, 28-year-old Sébastien Rosseler has told Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad that he’s signed a two-year deal to join Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel at RadioShack.
Time trial specialist Rosseler, who has won TTs at the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Tour of Belgium this season, was initially set to ride the Vuelta for Quick Step but was replaced at the weekend by Wouter Weylandt. The change was apparently made so that Rosseler can better prepare for the time trial at the world championships next month.
The Belgian press is also linking Rosseler’s friend and former Quick Step team-mate Gert Steegmans with a move to The Shack. Steegmans has been linked with a number of teams – most notably Milram – since breaking with Katusha earlier in the summer. RadioShack have said they will confirm rider signings in a press release next week.
Meanwhile, doubts still hang over Haimar Zubeldia’s future. The Basque rider has been offered a two-year contract by The Shack but still has a year on his current deal with Astana. Zubeldia would like to take the two-year option, but admits that, like Astana team leader Alberto Contador, he may have to see out his contract with his current team.
Another former Quick Step rider making news in Belgium is Frank Vandenbroucke. The 34-year-old, who split with the Cinelli-Down Under team two weeks ago having not been paid, crashed his Mercedes into safety barrier at Brakel, Belgium, on Monday night. VDB, who is currently working in marketing for a Belgian company, was reportedly interviewed by police at the scene. According to Sud Presse, it was the third traffic accident Vandenbroucke had been involved in during the last two weeks.
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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).
