QuickStep's Jurgen Van De Walle will be moving to his current team's traditional arch-nemesis Omega Pharma-Lotto for 2011. The 33 year old from West Flanders will be a valuable pick up for the Omega Pharma team and exactly the type of rider they're in the market for right now.
Just two days ago, Omega Pharma team manager, Herman Frison, admitted that the loss of the trio of Hoste, Delage, and Van Avermaet would necessitate some restructuring to provide the necessary support for the team's top rider, Philippe Gilbert and to a lesser extent, Jurgen Roelandts.
Frison said that the team was not looking for any more stars though, "The additional riders should meet the profile of domestique. We already have our leader, so now we need guys who can work and ride hard."
There aren't very many riders that fit the job description better than Van De Walle. While Van De Walle has made his name as a domestique par excellence, the rider, a professional since 1999, has a number of wins to his credit, including the last two editions of Halle-Ingooigem. He also finished third at this spring's Brabantse Pijl.
The Omega Pharma team is suitably pleased with the addition of Van De Walle: "Jurgen will be a super domestique and a definite enhancement to our leaders."
Van De Walle is the second rider, following the signing of Jussi Veikkanen, to head to the ever improving waters of the Omega Pharma team.