Having combined so well in the past, Shane Archbold is now to be reunited with Irish sprinter Sam Bennett.
The popular Kiwi, who has been riding for Irish team EvoPro Racing, is to join Bora-hansgrohe again immediately.
He will bolster the lead-out capacity of the team which has three top fastmen now in the shape of Bennett, Pascal Ackermann and Peter Sagan.
Archbold had ridden with Sam Bennett at An Post-Chainreaction and when Bennett went up to ProContinental he joined him at what was then Bora-Argon 18.
They rode together for that team for two years and were also team mates in 2017 when the team became WorldTour outfit Bora-hansgrohe.
However, Archbold’s second half of 2016 was wiped out with a crash and it took him almost all if the following season to recover.
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He was only back giving Bennett a lead out when the season ended and his contract was not renewed.
Archbold then signed for Aqua Blue Sport for the 2018 season, though the Irish squad collapsed last August.
And this year he has been riding for Continental Irish team EvoPro Racing. However, he now leaves that team in a mid-season transfer to join Sam Bennett again at WorldTour level.
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“This is incredible, I am so thankful to have received
this great opportunity,” Archbold said when the news was announced today.
“The WorldTour will definitely be a challenge. But for me
there is no better team with which to take on this challenge than
Bora-hansgrohe.
“We have a common history and I also have many friends
within the team. I just hope to be ready to show everyone that I deserve this
opportunity.”
Team manager Ralph Denk said he was delighted to welcome Archbold back to reinforce the team’s lead out train.
“We felt that we needed to strengthen the team’s lead-out
train and capacity to optimally prepare for fast finishes,” he said.
“Shane was already part of the team from 2015 to 2017,
and we have great faith in his abilities.
“After his serious crash at the 2016 Tour de France, he
experienced health problems, which rendered him unable to continue competing on
the WorldTour.
“It was for that reason that we did not extend his
contract. However, I assured him that if there was ever a chance for him to
return to the team, then the door would always remain open.
“Now he is fit again, motivated, and ready to grasp this
new challenge with both hands, and it is an opportunity that we are very
excited to be able to give him.”
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