Three strong riders will add power to new team and boost Schlecks’ Tour chances
Promising young Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang plus the strong German duo Linus Gerdemann and Fabian Wegmann have been announced as joining the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project, thus confirming long-running rumours that they would be involved.
Fuglsang is a three-time winner of the Tour of Denmark and the current national time trial champion. His strong abilities in the mountains and against the clock means that he is regarded by some as a possible future winner of the Tour de France.
He has competed for the past two seasons alongside the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, and under the direction of Kim Andersen. All three will form part of the new team, and so Fuglsang is happy to be on board.
“I wanted to join this team because I knew it would be a good fit for me and my personal goals. It is also exciting to start something new and help build it up along with my friends,” the 25 year old said, pledging his support to the brothers and also laying out some personal goals of his own.
“I will aim for higher personal goals like going for the general classification at the Giro or Vuelta, while taking great care to help Andy and Frank at the Tour. They are such great athletes, why shouldn’t we try to win it?”
Andersen’s knowledge of the rider has given him plenty of opportunity to assess his ability, and he is confident that he has what it takes.
“Obviously we have big expectations for Jakob. For me, he is one of the biggest talents in the sport,” he said. “Jakob had a fantastic first year racing at the ProTour level in 2009, and this year he gave the Schlecks good support in the Tour. He is a very complete rider and we now know how to tweak his off-season preparation so that he can arrive in the best possible shape for the coming season.”
Gerdemann is another who is regarded as having a lot of talent and, prior to racing for T-Mobile/Team Highroad/Columbia and Team Milram, raced with Saxo Bank forerunner CSC in 2005. The 28 year old won a stage and held the yellow jersey in the 2007 Tour de France, and won the Deutschland Tour one year later. Andersen believes that his best seasons are yet to come.
“I have already worked with Linus earlier in his career and I always wanted to work with him again, so I am pleased to have the chance to get him on this team,” he explained. “We have big expectations for him. “It has been good for him to have had a chance to grow as a person and as a rider in the last years and I think he has some amazing seasons ahead of him.”
Gerdemann’s Team Milram is stopping, and so moving to the new Luxembourg setup is a good break. However if he returns to his top level, he will more than reward the trust in him. One advantage is that many of the faces will be familiar to him.
“I know a lot of the people who will be riding and working for the team, so it was not that hard of a decision to make,” Gerdemann revealed. “Frankly, I am very excited to be racing with so many familiar faces once again.” His past couple of seasons have been quiet, but he expects to be back to his best, as is reflected by his stated ambitions. “I want to win stage races and win the Tour de France with the team.”
Double national road race champion Wegmann also comes across from the German squad, and Andersen admits he is very happy with his signing. “Fabian is a rider I have always wanted on my team,” Andersen explained. “I have always liked him; he is a winner – pure and simple. Though he is not a pure climber or a pure sprinter, you can always count on him for several wins a year. We can surely count on him to bring home some Classics and semi-Classics, or even the odd Grand Tour stage.”
Wegmann triumphed in the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt this season, defending the title he took last year, and is looking forward to a fresh start. “I searched out this team because I want to be a member of what I believe will be the most exciting team in cycling for the coming season,” Wegmann said. “I want to give my best to the team and be in top form for the Wallonian Classics, the Tour, Worlds and races like the Tour of Lombardy.”
The three riders join previously-confirmed signees Fränk and Andy Schleck, Daniele Bennati, Dominic Klemme, Maxime Monfort, Giacomo Nizzolo, Bruno Pires, Davide Viganò, Jens Voigt and Wouter Weylandt.
World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara has been reported as having also signed, but the team has not confirmed this.