The 26-year-old was brought in at the request of Sep Vanmarcke, who transfers back to the Cannondale-Drapac team from LottoNl-Jumbo next season, to help bolster his support crew for the Classics.
"A big reason for me to join Cannondale-Drapac was Sep of course. He asked me to join him and really wanted me there on the team, and he's a really, really good friend," Van Asbroeck said. "That was one of the big reasons why I wanted to join the team. Plus, I think it's a really nice team. Everything looks cool, the kits and bikes are really nice. Everything fits my picture of professionalism.
"Sep was really enthusiastic for me to come, and it's always nice if someone wants you with him on the team. I know what I can do for Sep and what he can do for me in the sprints. We make a really good team, so that was a big part of my decision."
Van Asbroeck began his career with Topsport Vlaanderen after winning the 2011 U23 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He was third in the U23 World Championship road race the following year. He quickly established himself as a versatile rider who can be a contender in both one-week stage races and one-day races, taking a stage win in the Tour de Wallonie and narrowly missing the podium, and a string of one-day podiums in 2014. He was fourth in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne in 2015, and this year won a stage and the points jersey in the Tour du Poitou Charentes and the mountains classification of the Arctic Tour of Norway.
Team CEO Jonathan Vaughters recognised Van Asbroeck's early Classics talent, and sees the Belgian as an important addition.
"The thing I wanted to build this season was a deeper cobbled classics team. That was sort of the number one focus of what I was trying to recruit for moving forward. By UCI statistics, we're the smallest budget team in the WorldTour, so I needed to figure out where, and how, we can win races," Vaughters said.
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"That's where Sep Vanmarcke came about, Tom Van Asbroeck and Taylor Phinney," Vaughters added. "Vanmarcke is probably the fastest rider on the cobbles, flat out. He's really come into his own since his previous time with us, and he'll have a spirited team around him, with Taylor, Tom, Dylan van Baarle, Sebastian Langeveld and others. We have a lot to play off of this season in the classics. I'm excited to see what we can do."
