Redant hopes to return to peloton as DS in 2012

Hendrik Redant hopes to return to the peloton as a directeur sportif in the coming year.  The Belgian had signed to be a DS with the Australian Pegasus project, but the deal fell through when the proposed team didn't get an International Cycling Union license.

“I have some offers,” he said on Dutch tv, according to Sporza.  “There are big teams showing interest, inside and outside of Europe.”

Redant evidently also has an offer from the new GreenEdge team, but is reluctant about it after last year's experience. “Yes, the Australians are there again, but that scares me a bit.”

This year the 48-year-old has done “different things,” he said. “I drive guests around in the Grand Tours, work for Tour Radio, and have even worked as a parking attendant,” he said. “I'm not having a hard time. I always look at things positively.”

His hardest task to date may have been having to shake “thousands of hands on Thursday in the Tour caravan. It is gratifying, but also hurt a little.”

Redant was a professional bike rider from 1987 to 1997, and most recently worked as a directeur sportif for Omega Pharma-Lotto.