The winner of yesterday’s Sparkassen Münsterland Giro, Aleksejs Saramotins, will be riding for Team Columbia-HTC next season. The 27 year-old Latvian signed a contract with the ProTour team one day before the start of the German semi-classic, and quickly rewarded their good faith by winning ahead of Dutchman Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil) and Frenchman Thiery Hupond (Skil-Shimano).

Saramotins had previously announced that he was extending with his current team, Designa Køkken, but stated that he would ride for a ProTour team if any were interested. Saramotins had a breakthrough season, also winning the UCI 1.1 Druivenkoerse in Belgium, the Designa Grandprix in Denmark, and a stage in the French Ronde de L’oise.