Former US national road race champion Ben King has inked a deal to ride with the Garmin Shparp team in 2014, with the 24 year old moving across from the RadioShack Leopard squad.
In 2010 King won the US championship at just 21 years of age, also netting the under 23 title. He also notched up third overall in the Coupe des Nations Ville Saguenay race plus sixth in the Espoir Paris-Roubaix, illustrating his talent.
That season cemented his move from Trek Livestrong to Team RadioShack, and he was one of the riders retained when that team merged with Leopard Trek prior to the start of the 2012 season.
“I'm really excited to join Team Garmin-Sharp next year. I have a lot of respect for the team and I’m looking forward to becoming a part of what Jonathan Vaughters has put together,” said King in the team announcement of his signing.
“I was teammates on the U.S. national team with Andrew Talansky and Alex Howes, so we work well together, and I will consider myself lucky to race alongside all the guys on the team.”
He said that the deal will see him return to the bikes he used in the past. “I began my international racing career on Cervélo with the HotTubes Junior Development team, so its nice to come full circle with them.”
King was the most aggressive rider in this year’s USA Pro Cycling Challenge and Garmin-Sharp’s CEO Jonathan Vaughters believes that he has potential to achieve more.
“Ben is a great young rider with a lot of promise and we look forward to continuing to help him develop his considerable talent,” he said.
His past results also include twelfth overall and the best young rider award in the 2011 Tour of Beijing.