Quick Step trainee position likely for Robert

Belgian Fréderique Robert, 20, is likely to ride as a stagiaire ('trainee') with team Quick Step this autumn. Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere told Cyclingnews yesterday that he would meet with team management to decide whether Robert would be recruited for a trial period with the ProTour-level team.

"I have to speak with [director sportif] Wilfried Peeters, but I think [he will]," said Lefevere.

"On Monday I am meeting with someone from Quick Step to confirm things," Robert told Het Nieuwsblad. "I would like to go [with the team] to five races in September and October."

Robert, from Mol, Belgium, is currently an amateur cyclist. He was a talented junior track rider and won six national track titles, primarily in sprint events.

Last year, he won a stage of the Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux and, in May this year, he won the Triptyque Ardennaise. Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) and Danny Pate (Garmin-Slipstream) are both former winners of Triptyque Ardennaise.