Report: Team Sky to sign Danny van Poppel

Trek Factory Racing sprinter Danny van Poppel will be racing in the colours of Team Sky from 2016 according to Dutch reports The 22-year-old claimed a breakthrough win on stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana which further piqued interest in the Dutchman. In 2015 van Poppel has also won two stages at the Tour de Wallonie along with a stage at the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.

Dutch news agency AD.nl reports that van Poppel has several WorldTour suitors, including re-signing with Trek, for his signature but has decided to join the British team who have identified him as a future classics contender. Van Poppel would be the second Dutchman to sign for the team after Wout Poels who recently won stage 5 of the Tour of Britain and helped Chris Froome win a second Tour de France. Team Sky also have Dutch sport director Servais Knaven on its books with the former Paris-Roubaix winner looking after the classics riders.

Van Poppel rode a selection of the Classics earlier this season with fifth place at Scheldeprijs his best result, having finished on the podium a year previously, while he was 45th on debut at Paris-Roubaix.

The retirement of Bradley Wiggins coupled with Geraint Thomas' possible switch to focusing on stage races over the classics and possible departure of Bernhard Eisel opens the door for an incoming rider to complement Sky's Classics riders Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe.