But Hayden Roulston ready to move for Luxembourg squad
Gianni Meersman of the FDJ team is heading to the Lotto-Ridley team for 2012, according to De Krant van West Vlaanderen. The Belgian had signed a contract with the RadioShack team earlier, the paper reported. After the merger of the RadioShack and Leopard-Trek teams, he decided the program didn’t suit him and he opted to go back to his native country, after four years in France and a one-year stay with Discovery Channel. New Zealander Hayden Roulston does move to the RadioShack-Nissan-Trek team, coming from the folding HTC team.
Meersman had problems with injuries the last few season, but was on the path to getting better. This season he won the Circuit des Ardennes and ended the Belgian Championships as the best of the rest, receiving silver behind the untouchable Philippe Gilbert. In 2007, he won stages in the Tour of Austria and the Tour de Georgia.
Roulston is the reigning champion of New Zealand and RadioShack is looking forward to have Roulston in the cobbled classics. The beginning of 2010 started with a defeat at the National Championships against Jack Bauer, but the rest of the year was good for Roulston. He was fourth in Kuurne – Brussel – Kuurne, seventh overall at the Driedaagse De Panne – Koksijde, tenth in Paris-Roubaix and third in the individual time trial at the Bayern Rundfahrt.
He won a stage in the Tour of Austria and took another win with the HTC team in the team time trial at the Vuelta a España (in Sevilla). He ended that year with a second place at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, behind Allan Davis.