After netting second on stages of the Tour of Luxembourg and the Tour of Denmark plus fourth on a stage of the Eneco Tour, Marko Kump has been handed a new contract with Team Saxo Tinkoff.
The 25 year old Slovenian rider will remain on board for the 2014 season, extending by a year the one year deal he previously had.
Kump showed his potential in 2010 when he won the Espoir Tour of Flanders, and hoped to perform strongly for the team in the Classics this year. However he had a bad crash and this derailed his plans, ensuring that it would only be later in the year when he started to hit form.
Getting a new deal is an important show of confidence in him, and proves he was right to keep working hard when things were going wrong.
“I had a bit of a disastrous start here, and I was almost at a point where I started to question everything after the crash,” he admitted. “But the team kept believing in me and kept supporting me in these tough moments, so naturally it was fantastic to be able to bounce back and get some results in the second part of the season.”
Team owner Bjarne Riis believes that things could pay off quite soon. “I have no doubt that Marko has a great potential, and in my view it is only a matter of time before he will secure his first victory for this team,” he said. “He still needs to develop as a rider, but he has tremendous power, and his work ethics is great. So for me it seems natural to extend his contract.”
Kump is determined to seize his chance, and wants to prove to Riis that his extension was the right decision. “This new deal really means a lot to me, and I look forward to the next season,” he said. “I am genuinely happy to be here, and I really hope I can repay this by being a strong support for my team mates and delivering some great results myself.”