Team KATUSHA has announced that Rick Zabel will join the team in 2017.

Zabel (22) has signed a contract for two seasons. The German rider comes from BMC Racing Team. In 2016 Rick Zabel successfully completed his second Tour of Italy, finishing four times in the top ten. As a young pro rider he also has a stage win in the Tour of Austria on his palmares. He is a fast rider and as former U23 national champion and winner of the U23 Tour of Flanders, he is a rider made for the classics.

"Team KATUSHA is becoming a more and more international team and with Tony Martin and Nils Politt I will have two other German riders around me. I look forward to being part of this team. Most of all I will be happy to have a place in a team focusing on the classics too. I want to play a very active role in the lead-out for Alexander Kristoff. It is nice to work for a big rider and learning from his experience. Of course I dream of my own successes, but that’s for later; I am still very young," says Rick Zabel.

"I know Rick’s father Erik very well. I rode with him 16 years in the pro peloton and later Erik became the team liaison for our bike manufacturer CANYON. In this way I have already followed Rick’s career for many years. I am convinced he has enormous growth potential ahead of him. We don’t expect him to equalize Erik’s records. It is a pleasure to welcome a young guy with the right spirit and mentality into our team. I am excited to have him with us," added Team KATUSHA General Manager Viacheslav Ekimov.

"For me it is no problem that people look at me as ‘the son of’. I am born as his son and I am proud of him, just as he is proud of me. It is nice to be part of the family story," concluded Rick Zabel.