Rick Zabel among five new recruits for Rabobank Continental

Rick Zabel, son of German great Erik Zabel, has taken another step toward following in the footsteps of his famous father, with the 17-year-old set to join the Rabobank Continetal team in 2012.

In an announcement from the team overnight, Zabel, along with Brian Megens, Martijn Tusveld, Marco Minnaard, Ruben Zepuntke will all ride for the Dutch development team next year as they build toward potential professional careers.

The promise shown by the German duo of Zerpuntke and Zabel was something that team director Piet Kuijs was particularly looking forward to further developing next season.

"They're both really high caliber talents," said Kuijs. "Zepuntke is an all-rounder and a good time trialist as well. Zabel meanwhile has a lot of potential for the classics."

Zabel won the under 19 Ruun um Köln earlier in the year before taking an impressive solo victory in the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt a week later.