Iouri Trofimov wins the Etoile de Bessèges (Image credit: Régis Garnier)
Russian rider Yuri Trofimov from Bbox Bouygues Telecom has opted to change teams and ride with Katusha next season. Trofimov had not been selected into Bbox's Tour de France roster this year, and his contract with Jean-René Bernaudeau runs out at the end of 2010.
Katusha team president Andrei Tchmil was happy to have secured the 26-year-old. "I believe that Trofimov is a good rider," said Tchmil. "Here he'll have the possibility to show his quality."
Trofimov, who started his professional road career with Bbox in 2008, won a stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and another in the Volta a Pais Vasco last year. Before turning to the road, he showed a lot of talent when he became U23 MTB world champion in 2005.
"It's not enough to have a Russian passport to ride in our team, but everyone must to show the right quality for our ambitious project," added Tchmil. "At the end of this season, Katusha will be two years old and the warm-up period is over. In the next years we have to grow up in quality."
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