34-year-old French veteran Sylvain Chavanel is set to continue his career with Swiss outfit IAM Cycling. Having spent the past 5 seasons with Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Chavanel confirms his future change of employer to French newspaper L’Équipe on Thursday.

“During the Tour de France this year, I realized that the time had come for me to seek pastures new,” Chavanel explained. “In a team constructed around Mark Cavendish, I had very little freedom of movement. At the end of the Eneco Tour, team manager Patrick Lefevere told me that he had no room in his budget for me for the coming season. That suited me well as I had already decided to leave OPQS. Several attractive offers lay on the table before me and eventually it came down to choosing between Movistar and IAM Cycling. At the end of the day, IAM made me the better offer.”

The news was confirmed Thursday by IAM Cycling.

Sylvain Chavanel joined OPQS from Cofidis at the end of the 2008 season. Included on his list of victories are a French road race title and five national time trial titles, a win in the Brabantse Pijl, Dwars door Vlaanderen, three stages in the Tour, the Tour of Belgium and twice the Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde. In 2011 he finished second in the Tour of Flanders after Nick Nuyens.