Dane moves across from general manager position at Leopard Trek
Having announced most of its riders for 2012, the GreenEdge team has today confirmed that Brian Nygaard would be taking up the post as the Australian squad’s Communications Director.
Nygaard has a long experience in the sport, working as the public relations manager at Bjarne Riis’ CSC and Team SaxoBank-Sungard for eight years, then moving to Team Sky and acting in the same capacity.
He then started working on the Leopard Trek project, moving to the role of general manager and proving to be an important part of getting the new team ready for action in what was a very short period of time. It went on to take a number of important results this year, including second and third overall in the Tour de France with the Schleck brothers.
“I’ve worked with a number of Australians in previous roles and have always admired their approach to the sport, and life in general,” he said. “So I’m thrilled to be part of the GreenEDGE team. After having met Shayne [Bannan, the general manager] and seeing the scope of this project, I feel proud to be asked to be part of this new challenge.”
With rumours swirling in recent weeks about big changes at Leopard Trek, Nygaard was tipped to be on the way out of the team and instead going to GreenEdge. That’s now proved correct. Bannan said that he believed the addition would be an important one.
“We’re delighted to have someone with Brian’s experience on the team,” he stated. “Although we’re a predominately Australian team, we’re an international team both on and off the road. Beyond the technical elements of the job, Brian knows cycling and speaks a number of languages which will help us tell our story around the globe.”