‘I’ll ride for a team other than Lotto Belisol’ in the season ahead, Gianni Meersman
With Team Lotto Belisol still not certain of its World Tour licence for the season ahead, Gianni Meersman has decided to leave the team even though he still has one more year on his contract.
The cyclist took advantage of the fact that the Belgian team is struggling to receive its World Tour status and has already announced that he will leave the side by the end of 2012 season.
The 26-year-old has not yet revealed the name of his new team, “I’ll ride for a team other than Lotto Belisol, that’s a certainty, but I don’t want to reveal the name of my new employer,” as reported by La Derniere Heure.
“I understand that people in the media want to know but I’ll leave it to my new team to communicate the news”.
“There are still some points to clear up. I have a verbal agreement that I don’t want to endanger”.
“I won’t say much more on the reasons for my departure from Lotto Belisol. I’ll just say that we’re not leaving on bad terms and that it’s my decision,” he concluded.
Meersman marked his professional debut with Team Discovery Channel in 2007 and joined Team Francaise des Jeux for 2008-2011 seasons.
He accepted a two-year offer from his home side, Team Lotto-Belisol in 2012 and still has one more year with the team as per the contract.
Gianni’s only commendable performances in the 2012 season include a stage each at the Volta ao Algarve and the Paris-Nice along with a third place finish at the Clasica de San Sebastian 2012.
Team Lotto-Belisol only managed to bag 625 UCI points throughout the season which does not guarantee that the side will be able to ride at the top level of the sport in 2013.
Major contributions came through the legs of Jurgen Van Den Broeck (237 points), Andre Greipel (162 points), Jelle Vanendert (104 points), Gianni Meersman (70 points) and Jurgen Roelandts (52 points).
Top fifteen teams in the UCI World Tour rankings have already been given the good news of their World Tour licence in the season ahead.
However, three teams out of the five including Team Argos-Shimano, Team Lotto Belisol, Team FDJ, Team Europcar and Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank will be granted the World Tour status later this year.
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