Davis joins Quick Step in September

Australian Allan Davis will signed a contract with the Quick Step team for the 2009-2010 seasons, but will join the team as early as September 1. The Belgian team announced that the Australian had reached an agreement with his current team, Mitsubishi-Jartazi, to leave early.

Davis will make his Quick Step debut in the Rik Van Steenbergen-Aaartselaar race on September 3.

"We are very satisfied that Allan can already join the team starting next September," said team manager Patrick Lefevere. "This way he can get right into the swing of the team and start learning its mechanisms. We're counting on Davis in the near future; he's already shown his worth with optimal results, including second place in the 2007 Milano-Sanremo."

"This is a great chance for me," Davis said. "I'd like to thank the manager, the technical staff and my team-mates at team Mitsubishi-Jaartazi for these great months spent together. I'm starting a new adventure. I'm hoping to live up to the faith placed in me by Team Quick Step."

Davis will also ride the Vattenfall Cyclassics Hamburg in which he finished third in 2005, followed by the Tour of Poland.

The 28 year-old was with Team Astana in 2006, where he was implicated in the Fuentes/Operación Puerto affair. Spanish authorities have since cleared him of any involvement in the matter. (SW)