Move to make Belgian squad a sprinting force seems eminent
The Gazet van Antwerpen reports that Andre Greipel is in late stage negotiations with the Belgian Omega Pharma-Lotto team.
Greipel, winner of 11 races in 2010 so far, has openly expressed his discontent with his HTC-Columbia team and its handling of him and the team’s top sprinter, Mark Cavendish.
Greipel made it apparent early on this season that he was looking for a new home for 2011 and beyond. Omega Pharma-Lotto was a name bandied about early on, but recent rumors had it that Milram’s Gerald Ciolek would be heading to Omega Pharma for 2011, which would seem to put a damper on the chances of Greipel.
The Gazet van Antwerpen reports, however, that the Ciolek rumors are just that: rumors, and that Greipel will be the man signing on the dotted line in the not so distant future.
Greipel will also be taking a small army of Germans with him to Omega Pharma in 2011, according to the Belgian newssource: Marcel Sieberg (HTC-Columbia), Bert Grabsch (HTC-Columbia), and Robert Wagner (Skil-Shimano).
It seems likely that Omega Pharma’s young Belgian sprinter and former Vuelta points classification winner, Greg van Avermaet will be leaving ahead of the 2011 season, but even with the loss of Van Avermaet, Omega Pharma will have a strong stable of sprinters in 2008 Belgian champion Jurgen Roelandts, German Robert Wagner, and of course, Andre Greipel.
If Greipel, Grabsch, and Sieberg leave HTC-Columbia, the former de facto German national pro team of Telekom/T-Mobile will finally have lost almost all of its German roots. There would only be two remaining German riders in young talents Tony Martin and Patrick Gretsch.
It will be interesting to see if the move goes through as reported, because it will be a sprinting corps to be reckoned with.