Danish sensation Magnus Cort has signed a three-year contract with Orica-GreenEDGE after a fantastic start to the season that has seen him win 10 races and battle Alexander Kristoff in the Tour des Fjords. The Australian team plans to develop the young talent into a classics contender.

ORICA-GreenEDGE is thrilled to announce that Magnus Cort has signed his neo-pro contract with the Australian outfit. The Dane recently scored his tenth win of the season, capturing two stages wins and the overall at Ronde de l’Oise. He has spent the last three seasons racing for Danish Continental teams, stepping up to the WorldTour from Cult Energy Vital Water. The 21-year-old joins the team’s young crop of talent that includes Esteban Chaves, Luke Durbridge, Caleb Ewan, Michael Hepburn, Damien Howson and the Yates brothers.

“Our goal with Magnus is the same that we have with all our young guys,” said Sport Director Matt White. “The young guys we have are the best of the best – and they’ve shown us that by winning. We want them to keep that quality. We want to extend Magnus the support he needs to continue to win bike races while at the same time helping him develop as an athlete and a person. We know we want Mangus to win next year, and we know he has the talent do that. We’ll work out with him the where, when and how."

Cort takes a slightly more humble approach to his objectives during his maiden season. As he prepares to move to Girona next season to live and train amongst his teammates, his primary focus is on acclimatization.

“My first goal is to integrate well and get to know my team and my teammates,” said Cort. “If I’m able to make a result or even win in my first year, then I would be extremely happy.”

The results Cort has already achieved demonstrate his diversity. His wins come from small bunch sprints and uphill kicks to the lines, in one day Classics and in stage races, and on the general classification of shorter tours. He won a stage at Tour de Fjord, missing out on the overall victory to Milano-Sanremo winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) by only one second. Last season, Cort won two stages at the Tour of Denmark, one stage and the King of the Mountain jersey at the U23 Thüringen Rundfahrt and finished third in the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen.

“Most people probably perceive Magnus as a sprinter, but I wouldn’t call him that,” said White. “Uphill sprints are certainly his thing, but he’s a pretty classy all-rounder. You only need to look at his results to see that he is multi-dimensional. We see him developing in our Classics group He thrives in the crosswinds and can handle the style of racing we see in the spring very well. “

“I’m here to learn, and I know I am in good hands with ORICA-GreenEDGE,” said Cort. “With my qualities in the sprints and the sort of results I have had, I think I’m probably more of a Classics type rider than one for the general classification results, but I want to work and learn wherever the team wants to race me.”

Although Cort has long been a fan of cycling, he only fully committed to road bike racing three and a half years ago after starting out as a mountainbiker. He considers it a dream come true to join the Australian squad amongst the professional ranks on a three year contract.

“I’m really happy to turn pro with ORICA-GreenEDGE,” said Cort. “It’s a team that will give me some great opportunities to develop and allow me to be part of a really good group of people. I have been really impressed with all the contact we have had to date. I actually haven’t been a bike rider for that long, but since I was a kid, I’ve been watching the big races. It’s a dream to be on my way to racing them.”

“We’re very excited to bring Magnus on board,” said White. “He is one of the biggest talents to come out of the U23 ranks this year.  We’re really looking forward to nurturing his development over the next three years.”