After BIKE AID already signed the young Eritrean talent Awet Habtom last week, the German team could also sign another very talented rider this week. With Adne van Engelen from the Netherlands the German professional cycling team adds another strong climber to its roster and reacts to future challenges.
„Our race schedule is very tight and we received much more invitations to very high class races as we initially thoght and we had to react to be prepared best way for the future challenges“, Timo Schäfer – team coordinator of the squad – said. „We will attend to several multiple week stage races, back to back – especially in summer. We have to have sufficient riders to cover all that in a good way and also giving everybody enough rest“, Schäfer continued.
Also the injury of Kenyan rider Geoffrey Langat plays a role in the decision as he will be out of racing longer than expected. After he broke his hip last automn, he just started training again.
Adne van Engelen convinced BIKE AID during the Tour of Cameroon, where he impressively fought with Nikodemus Holler for the overall win. At the end he took 3rd place. Already last year van Engelen could celebrate an impressive victory when he won the prestigous race „Romsee-Stavelot-Romsee“ in the Belgian Ardennes, where he left whole U23 squad of Lotto-Soudal behind.
„We are happy to get such a talented rider who will for sure bring again more quality to our team. He will race at „Tour of the Alps (UCI 2.HC) for the first time with us“, Timo Schäfer explains.
