South African cyclist Daryl Impey has taken the positives from a tough year and is to return to top flight cycling with GreenEdge next season. After the ill-fated Pegasus project failed to get off the ground late last year, Impey was one of the riders left scrambling to find employment.
He moved back home to start the season off with MTN-Qhubeka before signing with German team NetApp, midway through the year. Now the former RadioShack man is likely to return to the WorldTour should a licence be finalized for the new Australian GreenEdge team.
“I signed with GreenEdge because they’ve got such a cool package. Like the team said, from their point of view they want to offer a cyclist a service, so it’s not only becoming part of a team that’s got pro race invites, it’s also giving a service to the guys like having a rehabilitation centre. The equipment the guys are riding is probably the best. Also being part of an English set up and a new team with a big future…it was all these factors,” Impey told VeloNation, while on holiday in his native South Africa.
Should GreenEdge receive its ProTeam status, which seems likely as the team was this week included in the UCI’s top fifteen teams based on sporting criteria, the team will have the luxury of riding the biggest races in the world.
Impey is yet to make his debut in a Grand Tour but already has one eye set on the Giro d’Italia.
“We’ll probably start off pretty easy with me building up to the Giro and Ardennes - that’s a major part of my season. I’ll probably start off with Tour of Algarve, then go to Catalunya, Pais Vasco, the Ardennes and the Giro. So it’s a hard start to the year, but right now I’m just taking time off and relaxing.”
After Barloworld shut its doors in 2009, the former Tour of Turkey winner moved to Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team in 2010. Fulfilling more of a domestique role, he decided to sign with the aforementioned Pegasus for 2011 with the hope of chasing results for himself. That team’s collapse complicated things, but opportunities are something he is looking forward to at GreenEdge.
“I think this year was a good year for me to find my feet again. It was completely different to the domestique role at RadioShack…that just swamps you and comes over you. I think this year I got a lot of chances for myself and got the belief back,” he said. “Next year I won’t make the same mistakes. I’m gonna have the job to work for the other guys a bit, but I think GreenEdge will give me the opportunity to go for myself as well.”
The 26 year old has spent the last three weeks off the bike and will resume training in a week’s time. He will then get married in November before heading out to the team’s training camp in December.