Janez Brajkovič will be a part of the new BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team in 2017.

The 32-year-old Brajkovic was the under-23 Time Trial World Champion in 2004 and after he turned professional in 2005, he has been with six different teams. He won the National Time Trial Championships in 2009 and 2011.

In 2012 he won the Tour of Slovenia. During his long career he has attended all the Grand Tours and also finished most of them. In 2006 he held yellow jersey for two stages in the Vuelta a Espana, one year later he was 1st overall at Tour de Georgia, in 2008 he was 2nd at the Giro di Lombardia and 3rd overall in the Deutschland Tour. In 2009 he was 2nd overall at Giro del Trentino and the next year he won the Criterium du Dauphine where he won the time trial. In 2011 he was 3rd overall at Tour of Utah and after he had won Tour of Slovenia in 2012, he achieved 9th place overall at Tour de France. In 2013 he was part of the winning team at the team time trial in the Vuelta a Espana and he held red jersey after Stage 1 and got the award for combativity at Stage 1. In 2014 he was 3rd overall at Vuelta a Burgos and in 2015 he was 4th overall Abu Dhabi Tour and 5th overall at Tour of the Gila.

Brajkovic will be an important member of the team and important help to other riders of BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team, mainly at Grand Tours.

After signing with BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling team he said: “This is a unique opportunity for me – to ride again in the highest class. I am determined to prove that I still belong to professional cycling and I’m very motivated and also optimistic about next season. My priority now is to give 100 % to the team, help Nibali and other team mates and also prove to myself that I am still capable of good results.”