Important signing for American WorldTour team, Dutch rider seen as one with considerable potential
Santos Tour Down Under winner Tom Jelte Slagter has been snapped up by the Garmin-Sharp team for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, agreeing a two year deal with the American WorldTour team.
Slagter was known to be leaving his current Belkin squad; today’s announcement reveals his destination, and the young Dutchman believes he has made an important choice.
“I am very glad to become part of Team Garmin-Sharp. Together with my agency I have searched for the best possible team and I believe that Garmin-Sharp is the best fit for me,” he said. “I just turned 24 and I know I have a lot to learn. I would like to become more consistent on the World Tour level and I think Garmin-Sharp is the right place to be able to continue to develop my career.”
Slagter impressed with his strong win in the Santos Tour Down Under, the rider showing a real explosiveness on the climbs there. Since then he has taken top three finishes on stages of the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour du Haut Var, and was also a solid fourteenth in Flèche Wallonne.
“We are always looking to help develop young talent and Tom is a perfect fit for our team,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports and Team Garmin-Sharp. “He is an explosive rider with a lot of potential, which we have already seen with his overall win at the Tour Down Under this year. We look forward to having him on board next year and continuing to develop his talent.”
Slagter views himself as a rider with potential for hilly races, as his results thus far indicate. He has taken encouragement at the progress of another rider on the team, and this fuels his belief that he’s going to the right setup.
“Dan Martin is one of my role models in the peloton, and its fantastic to see the big races he won this year,” he said. “So I am very excited to be able to race with him at some point in the future.
“Garmin-Sharp has always been one of my favourite teams. It is great to see how well they have performed in the recent years, and I like what they stand for and the leadership of Jonathan Vaughters. I am also excited to race alongside a few other Dutch cyclists. It is always a pleasure to have a few teammates you can travel and train with.”
Slagter has been a pro with the Rabobank/Belkin setup for the past three seasons. In 2012 he took fifth in the Grand Prix de Québec and was sixth overall in the Tour of Oman.
He is represented by SEG Cycling, the same agency as Martin.