Despite having one of the most famous names in cycling, Rick Zabel is stepping out of his father. Erik’s, shadow and is determined to not be known as “Erik’s son” for the rest of his career, but as a successful individual who won many important races in his career.  He spoke to Cycling Weekly at the Tour Down Under:

"I feel quite good in the pro peloton but yesterday was not such a hard stage," the German said. "Now with the harder stages I think I will suffer a lot.

"There are a few guys here who raced with my father and now they're racing with me so it's a bit crazy."

Rick clearly has talent, winning the U23 Tour of Flanders last year with the Rabobank Development Team.

Zabel spoke about training with his father, now one of the countless tarnished legends of the sport: "I train a lot with him when I'm at home," he continued.

"But I have really good help from the BMC team and big support so for me it's important what the team says. My father is like a fan supporting me from outside."

Zabel will race at the Dubai Tour as well as some of the smaller Classics in his early season race program. The rest of the neo-pro’s schedule has not been announced.