Sam Welsford, an Olympic silver and bronze medallist on the track in the team pursuit, is switching his focus to European road racing, signing with Team DSM for the next two seasons.
The Australian, who is also a four-time world champion on the track, has spent some time racing on the road internationally over recent years as well as regularly racing the National Road Series. However this will be his first foray into European WorldTour racing. He is expected to play role in Team DSM's lead out train in support of sprinter Cees Bol.
“I’m really happy to be joining Team DSM for 2022. Team DSM are a team that are known for developing riders to a really high level and I can’t wait to work with all the driven staff and riders,” Welsford said in a statement from the team.
“Next year will be about learning the ins and out of the WorldTour sprints but hopefully I can learn quickly and help the team to achieve some nice results along the way.”
The 2020 Australian criterium champion, who also won the Bay Crits at the start of the year, was largely focussed on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but still made a mark on the road while racing for Team Garmin Australia. He won a tight sprint on the final stage of this year’s Santos Festival of Cycling during the 1.1 kilometre Victoria Park circuit in Adelaide.
“Sam has spent a lot of time racing on the track and he brings that power and experience with him as he makes the switch to full-time road racing with us," Team DSM head of coaching Rudi Kemna said.
"Motivated and driven, we think Sam will fit in well with our way of working and we’re looking forward to working closely with him and our team of experts as we aim to help him make the next step and bring him to the next level.”
“Combining the disciplines in the past, Sam has built up some really good skills with positioning and tactics and he’ll bring that added value to our sprint group within the team as we aim for more success next season.”
Team DSM also announced further signings, with Dutch multi-discipline cyclist Joost Brinkman joining the development squad, Tim Naberman shifting up from the development team to the WorldTour team and Martijn Tusveld extending through the 2022 season.
