Enrico Franzoi is close to signing a contract with Belgium’s BKCP Powerplus, the team of World Champion Niels Albert. The Italian had been in negotiations with rival Belgian cyclo-cross squad Sunweb-Projob, but the deal failed to materialize.

“Franzoi is going to Christoph Roodhooft’s team” said Sunweb-manager Jurgen Mettepenningen to Het Laatste Nieuws. “I’m sure of my words. He chose for BKCP’s road program. It is also financially more appealing.”

The former Liguigas rider has not signed anything according to Roodhooft, manager of BKCP-Powerplus, “ Nothing has been signed,” he told Sporza. “Enrico would like to ride for us. Hopefully we can strike a deal. After the weekend I expect more news.”

The Italian cyclo-cross champion placed third behind Albert in yesterday’s Grand Prix de la Region Wallon, while Frenchman Francis Mourey finished second. Today marks the third Superprestige Cross in Asper-Gavere, Belgium, where Albert crashed badly last year during his warm-up before coming back to win the World Championships.