Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step was keen to sign Mark Cavendish for the 2012 season
Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step signed as many as six riders from HTC-Highroad after the American team announced its departure from professional cycling.
The Belgian team was also interested in signing the UCI World Road Champion Mark Cavendish for the 2012 season but he opted out for the British side Team Sky to continue his professional pursuit.
The six cyclists who joined Team Omega Pharma-QuickStep are: Peter Velits, Martin Velits, Bert Grabsch, Matthew Brammeier, Frantisek Rabon and the World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin.
Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step Team Manager told Jyllands-Posten, “We tried with Mark Cavendish, but there was so much pressure from England from the British Olympic Committee and Sky, that it was impossible to pick him up”.
Brian Holm signed Lefevere’s team as the Director Sportif after the end of Team HTC. Brian’s close contacts with the cyclists were the main reason why Patrick signed him for the side.
Lefevere said, “He was important for me so that I could get people like Tony Martin into the team. Brian was the first who came and then was followed by the riders”.
Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step had a terrific start to the 2012 season, as it claimed an overall victory at the Tour de San Luis including 5 stages at the race.
Levi Leipheimer helped the team with the overall victory while Francesco Chicchi and Tom Boonen claimed the stage victories at the race.
Leipheimer also bagged two stages at the 2012 edition of the Tour de San Luis.
Tom Boonen achieved the top podium position at the Tour of Qatar and also won the first and the fourth stage of the race.
Andrew Fenn helped the Belgian team with the overall victory at the Trofeo Palma and the Trofeo Migjorn to give a perfect start to the team.
Brian helped Team HTC with a number of victories during the last season and his presence is already felt with the new team that only managed seven wins during the past season.
Quickstep Cycling Team finished at the 16th position with a total number of 379 points at the UCI Team’s ranking of 2011.
Team Omega Pharma-Lotto claimed the first position and the merger of two teams has definitely resulted in one of the strongest teams for the new season.
The Belgian side currently leads the team’s classifications with a total number of ten victories in the 2012 season.
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