Team Quick Step has announced their lineup for the this January’s Tour Down Under (18-25 of January 2009). Australian rider Allan Davis will be leading a seven man squad after a rich history in the event.
Davis came in second on general classification twice, in 2005 and 2008, and has a couple of stage wins sprinkled in between including one in 2008.
His previous team Mitsubishi – Jartazi showed its class by giving the rider a free pass to ride with Quick Step starting this past September by letting him out of his contract early. The sprinter quickly showed his worth by piloting Gert Steegmans to victory in the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen Aartselaar race in Belgium, and winning a stage in the Tour of Poland within weeks of his signing.
Quick Step will likely be relying on Davis to fill in the gap made when Steegmans signed with the new Russian team Katusha.
The Quick Step Lineup for the Tour Down Under: Allan Davis, Matteo Tosatto, Dries Devenyns, Davide Malacarne, Francesco Reda, Hubert Schwab, Kurt Hovelijnck