November 28, 2018 – One month before the official start of the season, Leopard Pro Cycling announces the signing of Jack Burke. The Canadian joins from the American Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis team and will strengthen the Luxembourgish outfit by focusing on the difficult stage races. Burke is the first Canadian in Leopard colours.

Jack Burke (23) debuted on the UCI Continental level in 2016 as part of the Canadian H&R Block Pro Cycling team before heading to Aevolo in 2017. In this period, he immediately showed his potential for stage races amongst professional riders at the Joe Martin Stage Race (9th & 14th), Tour of the Gila (15th & 21st), GP de Sauguenay (6th), Tour de Beauce (4th) and Tour of Alberta (6th & 15th). It is therefore more than logical that also the American based Jelly Belly team recognized his capabilities and Burke continued to improve his results with a 10th position at the Tour of the Gila, again 4th at the Tour de Beauce and 11th and 12th at respectively the well-ranked Tour of Utah and Colorado Classic. At Tour de Beauce, Burke showed an amazing solo win as he won the queen stage at a mountain top finish.

Jack Burke: “Leopard Pro Cycling seems like an excellent feeder team and development program to prepare promising riders to make the final step up to the WorldTour. I’m very grateful to be a part of that program next year and learn as much as I can about more European style racing. It is no surprise that my strengths have always been in the longest and hardest stage races. I really like the long mountain climbs and selective courses which will help me obtain great GC positions. A lot of the races I’ll be doing next year are foreign to me, so I’m still looking over the calendar and doing my best to set my goals. In 2019 I would like to at least win a national title and represent Canada at the World Championships.”

Markus Zingen, Team Manager: “When the opportunity came around to sign Jack, we did not hesitate too long. He has a proven track record in the difficult American and Canadian stage races and it will be no surprise that he will be one of our go-to guys in the stage races coming up. We hope that he adapts well to the European style of racing and we will 100% support him and pass on our experience. Nevertheless, we acknowledge his huge potential and abilities and this will hopefully lead to success in the coming season.”

Leopard Pro Cycling 2019
CAN – Jack Burke
GER – Konrad Gessner
LUX – Colin Heiderscheid
LUX – Arthur Kluckers
GER – Alexander Krieger
LUX – Misch Leyder
LUX – Pit Leyder
NET – Jan Maas
POL – Filip Maciejuk
LUX – Gaëtan Pons
POL – Szymon Rekita
LUX – Pit Schlechter
SUI – Mario Spengler
NET – Bas Van Belle