Boy van Poppel received some good news this Christmas, as has been announced that he will be joining Vacansoleil-DCM in 2013, Sporza reports. The 24-year-old Dutch sprinter has been riding for US team UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling for the last two seasons, but was to be joining Spidertech p/b C10 next year; with the Canadian team having folded due to financial pressures, van Poppel was facing the prospect of being team-less in the New Year.
Van Poppel’s joining Vacansoleil-DCM will be something of a family reunion, since he will be joining his father, 1987 Tour de France green jersey winner Jean Paul, who is a directeur sportif with the Dutch WorldTour team. Also, Boy’s 21-year-old brother Danny is signing with the team, having spent a year with the Rabobank Continental team; where Boy himself rode between 2007 and 2010.
2012 was Boy van Poppel’s best year to date, with springtime podium places in the Nokere Koerse and the second stage of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde. Although the season was winless, he picked up more top five places in the Tour of Turkey, the Österreich-Rundfahrt, and the Volta a Portugal; although he just missed out on a stage victory in the Tour of Britain, he wore the leader’s jersey for a day, and finished the race eighth overall, taking the points jersey in the process.