South African Robbie Hunter will return to Garmin-Cervélo next year, a team he previously rode for in 2010. Together with Robbie McEwen he was due to ride for Pegasus this season, but both men were picked up by RadioShack late in the year when the Australian project failed to take off.
Hunter quickly repaid the team with its second victory of the season in the Tour de Mumbai. He also rode through the pain of an injured kneecap in the Tour of Austria to win the first stage.
Now the Tour de France stage winner will reunite with Tyler Farrar in a bid to be competitive in the sprints for next season.
“I’m happy to be going back firstly, myself and Jonathan [Vaughters] has spoken regularly since about July this year, we spoke about me going back to the team. One of the big reasons I am going back is to work closely with Tyler,” he told VeloNation in an interview at his home in South Africa.
“Tyler, one of the fastest guys in the peloton, has lost one of his lead-out men in Julian Dean, who’s gone across the GreenEdge. He’s left with nobody really to help him out in the bunch sprint. So they were really keen to hear that I was on the market again, and were really keen to have me back…that was one of the biggest decisions in me going back. Role-wise to work closely with Tyler, whatever races he is doing, I’ll probably be doing.
“There’s also going to be some races for myself. Probably races like Volta a Catalunya where I’d have my own opportunities to race for myself as well. As much as I’ll be helping Tyler, there’s also going to be races where I’d like to work for myself.”
Hunter leaves for the team’s official launch and training camp in Boulder, Colorado this weekend. It has not been made official yet but the team is rumoured to have signed Koldo Fernandez and Jack Bauer in a bid to further strengthen its sprint train. In the video below, Hunter speaks about the competitiveness of leadout trains next year and the effects that mergers and sponsor splits have on the sport.