PARIS, Oct 20, 2011 (AFP) – Former Tour de France sprint king Erik Zabel is
set to become the new advisor to the fast men of Katusha, the Russian team’s
new manager, Hans-Michael Holczer, said Thursday.
Zabel, 41, is a six-time winner of the sprinters’ green jersey at the Tour
de France and in recent years been mentoring Britain’s Mark Cavendish at the
HTC-Highroad team.
With HTC folding at the end of the season and Cavendish having signed for
Team Sky as of 2012, Zabel will now give expert advice to the likes of Denis
Galimzyanov, one of the current generation’s up and coming sprinters and who
won Paris-Brussels in September.
“Erik will start with us this winter, he will have the same role with our
team,” said Holczer, the former manager of German team Gerolsteiner.
In an illustrious career which ended on a sour note — after he admitted to
once using the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) — Zabel won
Milan-SanRemo four times, Paris-Tours three times and 12 stages in the Tour de
France.
Katusha, whose team leader is Spanish climber Joaquin Rodriguez, has
recently undergone a management overhaul with new sporting directors in
Germain pair Christian Henn, formerly of Gerolsteiner, and Michael Rich.
Cavendish recently added the world road race crown to his impressive list
of honors.