After one year at the professional continental level, Tiago Machado will be back in the WorldTour. The Portuguese has signed a contract with Katusha.

The Russian WorldTour Team Katusha announces the signing of an agreement with the Portuguese rider Tiago Machado, 28. Rider and team reached an agreement for the seasons 2015 and 2016.

For Machado it means a return to WorldTour level. In the current season for Team NetApp, Machado won the Overall Classification in the Tour de Slovénie, finished 2nd in Tour of Murcia, 3rd in Critérium International, 4th in Tour of California and 6th in Giro del Trentino. Moreover, he rode strongly in the Tour de France until he crashed.

"Machado charmed us a lot not only in the Tour de France but in his complete last campaign. To reinforce our team for the stage races he is the perfect rider. Tiago can climb and he is a very good time trialist. We know that Tiago is very keen on coming to our team. Team director José Azevedo and I worked with him already in the past in the Giro and the Vuelta. Tiago is a real pro, not an individualist, a real team player and the kind of rider we welcome with pleasure in our team," said Team Katusha General Manager Viacheslav Ekimov.