Niki Terpstra (Milram) chases after crashing.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Niki Terpstra and his young son.(Image credit: Bert Geerts/dcp-bertgeerts@xs4all.nl)
Netherlands road champion Niki Terpstra will ride for Quick Step in 2011, the team announced on Sunday evening. He is currently with Team Milram, which will lose its sponsor at the end of the year.
Terpstra, 26, also won the Sparkassen Giro Bochum this season. He has brought in a numbr ot top ten finishes, including third in Dwars door Vlaanderen and sixth overall in the Tour of Oman. In 2009 he won a stage in the Criterium du Dauphine Libere and the prologue of the Ster Elektrotoer and in 2007 won the mountain jersey in the Deutschland Tour.
He has a track background, and won the silver medal at the team pursuit at the 2005 Track World Championships.
"I'm very glad to be able to race next year in a top team like team Quick Step,” Terpstra said. “Personally this is a great opportunity and I hope to repay the faith Patrick Lefevere has shown in me with performances that will measure up to his expectations.”
“Technically Niki is an excellent rider who can still make a lot of progress in terms of results and performance,” QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefevere said.
“He will be an important player in the Northern classics, in which he's already proven himself in the past with some optimal placements in some of the most prestigious races, such as, for example, his third place this year in the Dwars door Vlaanderen. However we're also expecting great things from him in other one day races or in some stages of the major stage races."
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