Julian Dean, New Zealand's leading road cyclist, has signed a one-year contract with new Australian Pro Tour team GreenEDGE. Speculation had been rife that Dean was leaving Garmin-Cervelo, who he has been with for the past four years, and the 36-year-old confirmed the move today.
GreenEDGE plans to be Australia's first Pro Tour team and has significant money behind it. It has already signed Australain riders Matt Goss, Simon Gerrans, Robbie McEwen, Cameron Meyer and Stuart O'Grady.
Dean will link up with the team at a training camp in November with his first event expected to be the Tour Down Under in Australia in January. Dean said he was excited about at least one more year at the sport's highest level after he heard about the new Australian team, which was launched earlier this year.
''It is a hugely exciting development for cycling, especially in Australia and New Zealand,'' he said. ''After I learned more about the team and their philosophies, I was really enthused and wanted to be part of it.
''With the quality of the team named I'm confident we'll get World Tour status straight away. This is a really big deal and we've not seen anything of this magnitude in any sport in Australasia before. It is huge.''
The two-time New Zealand champion has gained a reputation as one of the sport's premier sprinters, with 2010 world champion Thor Hushovd labelling Dean the best lead-out rider in the world.
The Kiwi believes he is riding as well as at any time in his long career. He enjoyed three podium finishes in the 2010 Tour de France as well as two podiums at the Giro d'Italia. In the 2008 Tour de France he took a top-10 placing in six stages and in 2009 he was the only professional to complete all three grand tours - the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. ''I think I have something still to offer and believe over the last two to three years especially, I have raced at my best,'' he said.
GreenEDGE will be Dean's fifth major cycling team after US Postal (1999-2001), CSC-Tiscali (2002-2003), Credit Agricole (2004-2007) and Garmin-Chipotle (later Garmin-Cervelo) in 2008-2011.
He has completed seven Tours de France and was part of this year's Garmin-Cervelo team that won the team time trial and finished as leading team at Le Tour. Dean joins a number of other Kiwi road cyclists who are on the move next year.
Greg Henderson has left Team Sky and is moving to Lotto and Jack Bauer is set to leave his small Endura Racing team and is being chased by a number of bigger teams, including GreenEDGE, Garmin-Cervelo and Team Sky. Hayden Roulston is on the lookout for a new team after HTC Highroad recently announced it was folding.