U23 Tour of Flanders champion a big score for new teamYoung Slovenian prodigy, Marko Kump, is headed to the new Team Geox for 2011. The powerful 21 year old has chosen to step up to the big time in the burgeoning ranks of Team Geox, a team that looks set to make a quantum leap forward in quality over its current Footon-Servetto incarnation.
The rider has enjoyed great success since he turned professional as a freshly minted senior rider. In his first year in the pro ranks, in 2007, he managed a win at the hotly contested early season Porec Trophy. Each successive year has seen the rider improve. 2009 saw Kump to a stage at both the Tour de l’Avenir and the Tour of Slovenia. 2010 has been even better with a resounding victory at the U23 Tour of Flanders, a stage at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, and a 2nd place in Stage 1 of the Circuit de la Sarthe. On the day of the announcement of his signing with Geox, Sunday, Kump celebrated with yet another win, this time in the Burgenland Rundfahrt in southeastern Austria.
In his final year in the U23 ranks, Kump will head into the World Championships in Melbourne as one of the hot favorites, and he’ll start next season as one of the bigger prospects in the world, both as a sprinter and a Classics rider.
Kump and former U23 World Champion, Fabio Duarte, will complete quite the multi-faceted duo of enormous potential at Geox – Kump for the sprints and Classics, and the Colombian, Fabio Duarte, for just about anything uphill.
Geox can already lay claim to two huge signings for 2011 in three-time Grand Tour champion, Denis Menchov, and 2008 Tour de France champion, Carlos Sastre.