Impey makes step back after Pegasus meltdown
Daryl Impey and Jurgen Van Goolen have found new teams for the 2011 season. Impey, a victim of the Pegasus meltdown, heads home to South Africa with MTN-Qhubeka. Van Goolen will race for Belgian Professional Continental team Veranda’s Willems.
Impey had to take quite a step back, after still racing for RadioShack in 2010. He had signed a contract with the Australian Pegasus team, but like many others was left out cold when the team folded even before the season started. He has found a team in his native country now, as wielerflits.nl reports.
Impey turned professional in 2008 with Barloworld,. He won a stage in the Herald Sun Tour that year. A year later he took a stage and the overall classification in the Tour of Turkey.
More than his victory Impey will be remembered for the final kilometer of the race. Inexplicably, Theo Bos slung him into the barriers. The incident happened inside the final kilometer, so Impey was awarded the same time as stage winner Sebastian Siedler. The rules required Impey to still cross the finish line. Bloody and with a neck brace on, he slowly pedaled across the line, with a Barloworld soigneur next to him.
Van Goolen turned pro in 2002 with Domo – Farm Frites. He then raced three years with Quick Step and two years with the Discovery Channel team. In 2008 he moved to Saxo Bank for two years, before signing for Omega Pharma-Lotto in 2010.
In 2003 he was third in the second in the Post Danmark Rundt (Tour of Denmark). He showed some promise as a climber, having finished second in the mountains classification of the Vuelta a España in 2007. But in recent years Van Goolen was unable to confirm these abilities. His signing with Veranda’s Willems may be a new start for the Belgian to get some better results again in the future.