Nuyens close to joining Garmin-Sharp

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Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank's Nick Nuyens could be on his way to American team Garmin-Sharp, Belgian newspapers have reported. The 2011 winner of the Tour of Flanders could replace Sep Vanmarcke as one of the outfit's Spring Classics leaders for next season.

"We are in advanced negotiations with Garmin-Sharp," Nuyens' manager Jef Van den Bosch confirmed to De Standaard, without however announcing a done deal. "But we are also in talks with other teams, including his current squad Saxo Bank. So it's not certain that Nuyens will be going to Garmin. But the negotiations are developing well. I'm expecting a breakthrough by the end of the week."

At the team managed by Jonathan Vaughters, Nuyens would be joining another Belgian, Johan Vansummeren, who won Paris-Roubaix last season. Having joined Saxo Bank in 2011, Nuyens was victorious in the Dwars door Vlaanderen as well as the Tour of Flanders that same year. Vanmarcke, winner of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2012, has already announced that he would be leaving the American team, but his destination is still unknown.

Nuyens has had a difficult season so far, as a hip fracture sustained at Paris-Nice took him out of racing during the spring.