Austrailian rider Allan Davis will make his debut for team Quick Step on September 3rd, 2008 in the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen – Aartselaar race.
Davis was a vicitim of the Discovery Channel fallout when team management could not find a replacement sponsor. Davis managed to get a contract on the Mitsubishi - Jartazi team in hopes of making it back to one of the bigger teams in the future.
That hope came to realization today as sprinter reached a two year agreement with Patrick Lefevere. His current team Mitsubishi - Jartazi showed its class by giving the rider a free pass to ride with Quick Step starting in September.
“We are very satisfied that Allan can already join the team starting in September," commented Patrick Lefevere, "This way he can get right into the swing of the team and start learning its mechanisms. We’re counting on Davis in the near future; he’s already shown his worth with optimal results, including second place in the 2007 Milano Sanremo.”
After the Memorial Van Steenbergen Davis race, he’ll compete in the Vattenfall Cyclassics Hamburg (07/09/2008) in which he placed third in 2005, and the Tour of Poland (14-20/09/2008).
“This is a great chance for me," explained Davis, " I’d like to thank the manager, the technical staff and my team mates at team Mitsubishi-Jaartazi for these great months spent together. I’m starting a new adventure. I’m hoping to live up to the faith placed in me by Team Quick Step.”
Davis will fill a gap that opened up when Boonen's leadout man Gert Steegmans packs his bags for Team Tinkoff at the end of the season.