Jurgen Van den Broeck to lead Omega Pharma-Lotto as he signs for four years – Cycling News
Jurgen Van den Broeck has signed a four year deal with the team Omega Pharma-Lotto just before the start of Vuelta a Espana. The Belgian will lead the Omega team into the Vuelta after he was forced to retire at the Tour de France 2011 as result of a crash
at stage 9.
Broeck is a time trial specialist and has been the Under-23 time trial World Champion and have impressed thousands of cycling fans across the world with his impressive performances at the Eneco Tour and Tour de Romandie as he finished seventh at the Giro
d’ Italia 2008.
He is the first Belgian to finish the Tour de France in top five after Claude Criquielion in 1986 as Van finished 5th overall in Tour de France 2010. In the 2011 Tour de France, Van was looking good for the general classifications before he ended
up in a crash during the 208 kilometre stage 9 and had to abandon the tour after the crash left him with fractured shoulder and broken ribs as his team-mate Frederik Willems also broke his collarbone in the crash. Other cyclists involved in the crash were
Dave Zabriskie who broke his wrist where as Astana leader Alexandre Vinokourov broke his elbow.
After the stage 8 of Tour de France 2011 Broeck was 39 seconds behind the race leader Thor Hushovd with Cadel Evans one second behind Thor. Van was at 20th position with 43 points after the stage 8 classification.
Broeck will be leading his team Omega Pharma to the Vuelta a Espana 2011 as the Vuelta starts on August 20. The nine cyclists to represent team Omega in the Vuelta are Bakelants Jan, De Greef Francis, Dockx Gert, Hansen Adam, Reynes Mimo Vicente, Van de
Walle Jurgen, Kaisen Oilvier, Lang Sebastian and Van Den Broeck Jurgen.
Omega Pharma manager Jef Van den Bosch expressed his feelings on signing the 28-year-old as he said, “We will do everything to work in the coming years based on the Tour, which remains the main objective of Jurgen.”
It will be interesting to see how the 28-year-old handles the team Omega Pharma at the Vuelta a Espana 2011 as the best cyclists from all over the world gather at Spain to welcome the 66th edition of the race.
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