Katusha's Ilnur Zakarin and Tony Martin (Image credit: Getty Images)
2016 World Championships time trial podium (l-r): Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus), Tony Martin (Germany), Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spain)
German support for Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
German time trial champion Tony Martin (Etixx-Quickstep)
World time trial champion Tony Martin crashed in the wet conditions(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Cyclingnews has learned that Tony Martin will sign for LottoNL-Jumbo. The German, currently at Katusha Alpecin, has agreed terms on a two-year deal with the Dutch team and will be unveiled as a new signing in September once official team protocol has been completed.
Martin, now 33 and in his 11th season as a professional, is a four-time world time trial champion and has won four stages of the Tour de France during his career.
LottoNL-Jumbo would not comment about the arrival of Martin when contacted by Cyclingnews but he is expected to form part of the team's time trial core and improve their team time trial chances at the Tour de France.
Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk finished fourth and fifth in this year's Tour de France with LottoNL-Jumbo but they lost over a minute to Team Sky and other major rivals in the Cholet team time trial on stage 3.
Martin was forced out of this year's Tour de France after fracturing vertebra in a crash on stage 8. He has only recently returned to training after four weeks of rest and so will miss Deutschland Tour in Germany.
Last week he announced: "My comeback will unfortunately be delayed. The doctors have advised me against a start at the Deutschland Tour. It really hurts me that I can't be there. But I didn't argue about and accepted their advice," he said.
"It would be fatal if I crashed on my back again and did even worse damage. We professional athletes are aware that we have to accept a lot of risks. That's just the way it is. But we must not overdo it. I am responsible not only for myself and my body, but also for my family. I would have liked to have seen you all at the Deutschland Tour. But we will do that one day."
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
