OmegaPharma-Lotto rider Michael Elijzen is to retire from racing at the end of the year and take up position in the team car as a sport director. The 28-year-old Dutchman will replace the outgoing Henrik Redant behind the wheel as the Belgian heads for the new Austrlian Pegasus Racing team.
Elijzen turned professional with Cofidis in 2006 after having spent three years with the Rabobank Continental under-23 team. In 2007 he took the only two victories of his career, winning the prologue of the Eneco Tour and the Duo Normand with Bradley Wiggins. He rejoined Rabobank, a ProTour level this time, in 2008 for one season before joining what was then called Silence-Lotto in 2008, where he has been riding as a domestique since.
This season the Dutchman rode the Giro d’Italia, helping Australian teammate Matthew Lloyd secure the climber’s green jersey, along with several other week-long tours. The closest he came to getting a result for himself was an eighth place in the sprint behind HTC-Columbia’s André Greipel on stage 18 of the Giro
With Elijzen, the team .will once again have six sports directors in 2011. Herman Frison, Dirk De Wolf, Marc Wauters, Roberto Damiani, Jean-Pierre Heynderickx and Michiel Elijzen will all serve under Sports Manager Marc Sergeant.