Bobbie Traksel may be able to continue his career after all. Spaziociclismo reports that the veteran Dutchman is close to signing a deal with An Post which would see him take over Niko Eeckhout's role as mentor for the young riders.

When Champion System announced that it will fold at the end of the season, Bobbie Traksel faced a potential retirement. After a couple of lacklustre seasons, the Dutchman was in a difficult situation in a market that was plagued by the demises of five professional cycling teams.

Traksel drew much attention when he used his position as president of the union of Dutch riders to try to create a new continental team that should help unemployed Belgian and Dutch riders save their career. He secured 525,000 euros in funding but needed another 75,000 euros to turn the project into reality.

Now Traksel may have saved his career at the last moment. Spaziociclismo reports that he is close to signing a contract with the An Post continental team which is a Belgian-based squad  aiming to develop both young Belgian and Irish riders into professionals.

In the past, Niko Eeckhout has been the experienced team leader but at 43 years of age, the Belgian has decided to end his career. The addition of Traksel would provide the team with a substitute for Eeckhout.

Traksel turned professional for Rabobank in 2000 and has been part of the Unibet, Palmans, P3 Transfer, Vacansoleil and Landbouwkrediet teams before joining Champion System prior to the 2013 season. He had his greatest moment in 2010 when he won a rainy edition of the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and he won the 2008 Driedaags van West-Vlaanderen overall.

Traksel underlines that no contract has been signed yet.