World cyclo cross champion Zdenek Stybar appears to be moving closer to making a ProTeam road debut in 2011, with Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere having sufficient faith in him to reportedly have offered a cool half a million euro for his signature.
The impressive figure is being made to the rider on the basis of what he might achieve in races such as the Spring Classics, and also because of new ties between his country and the Belgian team. Last month, Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala and Dutch businessman Bessel Kok bought majority stakes in the company which manages the QuickStep cycling team, Esperanza. Stybar being Czech creates a link with Bakala, and would clearly be a rider he would like to have on the Belgian squad.
“Lefevere offers 525.000 euros, I think that's a lot of money and this is the price at which I am prepared to transfer him,” said his current Telenet-Fidea team manager Hans Van Kasteren. “I am happy on one hand. A month ago we thought Stybar was a God, but now it appears he is only flesh and blood. He had forgotten that after the sun, there is also the rain.”
Van Kasteren is referring to the fact that Stybar has been struggling with injury and is currently sidelined from racing.
However, while his statement makes it look like the deal is as good as done, he said that he won’t confirm the deal just yet.
“I’ve already made the decision. I can’t say it yet, but before the end of the year, I'll let it be known,” he told Het Laaste Nieuws. “Zdenek is not Belgian, so his value is limited. He had only one proposal. So he either asked too much, or he is not as popular as he thought.”
Last month Stybar said that he had been given a very strong offer. “Last Monday I was almost ready to sign with [current team] Telenet,” he told Sporza. “But there were a few things that were not right. Then suddenly I got a very nice offer from Quick Step; I was surprised by it.”
He has said that he wants to aim for strong results in races such as the Tour of Flanders.