My journey has only just started, says Turek

CYCLING DAN Turek has signed a new contract with the Israel Cycling Academy and will race for the team next season.

Turek, 22, had a stand-out year, gaining two impressive victories in the Tour D’Azerbaijan and Tour de Berlin. His aggressive racing style and success drew attention and interest from other teams but Turek agreed to stay with Academy to what he calls “the next step, both for myself and the team”.

He said: “I know that the team will be even stronger next year with more experience and a great racing schedule.

“I feel that I want to continue this team’s exciting journey and help get better results and more victories.”

Academy’s manager Ran Margaliot said: “Dan’s achievements last year gave us a hint of his potential. He is capable of much more and we are going to give him the tools and the opportunities to develop much further next season.”

The Academy Team marked the end of their first road season with four riders performing strongly at the Kazakhstan 186km Tour of Almaty one-day event.

Turek finished 13th after a bout of cramp which forced him to drop out of the leading pack.

Margaliot said: “Theteamwillbemoving base to Italy next year and I’m lookingtoaddaBritishrider.Butourmission is to help riders coming from countries who lack a tradition of cycling.”

Set up almost a year ago in a joint venture by Ron Baron and Peter Sagan, the Academy team has been motivated by the successes of Sagan who won the World Professional Road Race crown in Reading, Virginia earlier this month.