STANNARD TO SIGN FOR LANDBOUWKREDIET

Olympic Academy rider Ian Stannard is set to sign for the Belgian Landbouwkrediet team this weekend

20-year-old Stannard rode as a stagiaire for T-Mobile for the last two months of the 2007 season in a trial period, but the adversity that engulfed the team in November blocked his chances of signing a full contract with the team.

He will now join the Professional Continental ranked Landbouwkrediet - Tonissteiner team where he will line up with his fellow Brits Ed Clancy and Paul Manning.

British Cycling had hoped that Stannard would sign for a ProTour team, as several of them showed interest. But with the market shrinking as sponsors pulled out, the amateurs looking to join the pro ranks were hit the hardest.

Stannard is likely to continue to use Quarrata, Italy, as his base, as more of the new legion of British pro?s move to the village where British Cycling?s Olympic Academy is based.