German sprinter Gerald Ciolek will be heading to Belgium next year, as he is to sign a contract with OmegaPharma-Lotto, says the Gazet van Antwerpen. The 23-year-old has ridden the last two years with Milram, but the team has yet to secure a sponsor for 2011 when their agreement with the German milk cooperative expires.
Milram’s general manager Gerrie Van Gerwen denied that the rumours are true however. “I have asked Gerald and he told me that it’s not true,” he told Dutch news agency DPA. “As long as I’m unable to make our riders a concrete offer for next season they of course have the freedom to talk to anyone; but before they sign somewhere else they must first listen to my offer. This is also the situation with Ciolek.”
There has been no official announcement however as teams and riders are not allowed to officially negotiate contracts for next year until later in the month.
Although riders like Greg Van Avermaet have picked up a number of victories, Omega Pharma-Lotto has yet to make up for the departure of Australian Robbie McEwen for Team Katusha in 2009. The team has been on the lookout for a new sprinter for some time and the young German would likely fit the bill nicely.
Ciolek has long been touted as a potential super-sprinter, ever since winning the under-23 World Championships in Salzburg, Austria in 2006. He signed for T-Mobile (which became Highroad, then Columbia) where he was expected to flourish. However, he found himself eclipsed by the team’s other young sprinter, Mark Cavendish, and after two years departed for the Milram team.
Where former teammate Cavendish has become widely regarded as the fastest man in the World, Ciolek’s progress has been more steady. In 2009 he picked up a number of top-five finishes at the Tour de France, behind Cavendish, and won a stage of the Vuelta a España.
Ciolek is currently still riding in the Tour de Suisse despite being brought down by the spectacular crash on stage 4, when Cavendish and Cervélo’s Heinrich Haussler collided directly in front of him.