After two years on the Orica-GreenEDGE team, Wesley Sulzberger will step down a level in 2014. Having signed a contract with the newly promoted professional continental team Drapac Pro Cycling, the former silver medallist at the U23 Worlds hopes to get back into a leading role on his new team.

After not having his contract with Orica-GreenEDGE renewed, Wesley Sulzberger was left on the market for the 2014  season. With 5 professional teams all folding, the talented Australian faced an uphill battle but his career has now been saved as he has signed a contract with Drapac Pro Cycling for 2013.

Sulzberger showed great potential when he finished 2nd in the U23 World Championships road race in 2007 and signed a professional contract with FDJ for the 2009 season. He won his first race that same year when he triumphed on the second stage of Paris-Correze and won the Grand Prix De Plumelec one year later.

However, his progress stalled and despite finishing 8th in both the Bayern Rundfahrt and the Tour of Turkey in 2011, he failed to win another race during his three-year stay at the French team. He signed with Orica-GreenEDGE for the 2012 season but was mostly working as a domestique in his time with his home team.

The contract with the other big Australian team which will take the step from continental to pro continental level in 2014, will allow him to chase more personal success and he is looking forward to the challenge.

"I am very excited about it all," he said in a press release from the team. “I’m looking to establish myself more as a key rider and I think that the opportunities that I’ll have with Drapac will help me to approach that goal."

Last week, it was announced that Drapac has received a wild card invitation to the Tour Down Under. Sulzberger finished 5th in the race in his first professional year and had redcircled his home race as his fist big target.

"The Santos Tour Down Under is always a great race to start with and obviously the biggest race in Australia that we have, so doing that straight up is a big objective of mine," he said. "I finished fifth overall once before so it would be nice to try and get up there for that one."

Sulzberger is the third ProTeam rider to have been signed by Drapac, following the earlier announcements that Will Clarke (Argos-Shimano) and Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo-Tinkoff) will join the team in 2014. Other signings include Jack Anderson (Budget Forklifts), Jai Crawford (Huon-Genesys), Jordan Kerby (Christina Watches-Onfone), Lachlan Norris (Raleigh), Wouter Wippert (Team 3M) and Benjamin Johnson who previously left cycling in 2008.

Sulzberger will team up with his brother Bernard who rode for the team in 2013 and will stay there in 2014.