December 3, 2010 – In 2011, Quebec’s David Veilleux will be racing in support of Thomas Voeckler (Fra) amongst the European pro peloton with a new squad, Europcar, managed by former Bouyghes-BBox Director Jean-Rene Bernaudeau. Veilleux issued a release announcing his exciting news and there are other reports in French on Veloptimum and Flamme Rouge.

“This move to a European team at the international level represents a childhood dream, but also a reward for all these years of hard work and sacrifice. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my team of the last three years, Kelly Benefit Strategies. My experience with this team enabled me to progress greatly with the advices of the sporting director Jonas Carney and all of my teammates. I really appreciated to race with these guys,” said Veilleux.

The deal with the established professional team, Europcar, came about with the help of Veilleux’s coach, Pierre Hutsebault. Veilleux will be living in France near the team’s training, headquarters in Les Essarts in Vendée, France. He will leave on December 10 for his first training camp in Valencia, Spain, where he will meet his new team mates. After the holidays, Veilleux will take part in another camp before attending the Europcar team presentation on January 14 in Paris.

“I do not expect to take part in the Tour de France during the next season. My goal will be mainly to learn and to get used to the rhythm of race. I aim at giving my best so that the team obtains good results. I will see during the course of the season how things will go, but it is certain that I will target the Canadian national championship in the time-trial and on road,” he said.

Veilleux added that his racing calendar is not yet confirmed for the season, but he has been selected as one of 10 Europcar riders to compete in the Classics. Exactly which Classics he will do is yet to be confirmed.

Read the veloptimum.net story here.
Read the la flame rouge article here.