Cycling: Shane Archbold signs for Irish pro team

Shane Archbold. Photo / Getty

Shane Archbold will leave his professional team Bora-Hansgrohe to join Irish squad Aqua Blue Sport for the 2018 season.

The New Zealander, who suffered from a lingering back injury for almost a year following the crash which took him out of the 2016 Tour de France, has recently stormed back into the peloton.

As a key lead-out he helped Bora team mate Sam Bennett to four stage wins at the week-long Tour of Turkey, which finished yesterday.

His transfer to Aqua Blue Sport was announced on Friday morning.

"Having been through a challenging period of my career hampered by injury, I am ready to move on to the next chapter," Archbold said. "I have followed the progress of Aqua Blue Sport with interest and believe the team to be an excellent fit for my future ambition. I look forward to a fresh start, to getting to know my new teammates and to some exciting racing in 2018."

It will be the second time for Archbold in an Irish team after he spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons at Continental squad An Post-Chain Reaction. He moved to Bora in 2015, where he linked up again with his old An Post teammate Bennett, forming a key part of his lead-out train.

The 28-year-old Archbold has a strong track background. He took the silver medal in the Omnium at the 2011 World Championships and won gold in the scratch race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where he also claimed a bronze as part of New Zealand's team pursuit effort.

Archbold broke his pelvis in a crash on stage 17 of his Tour de France debut in 2016. He completed the stage but abandoned the race four days before the Paris finish. He later had surgery on bulging discs in his back and missed most of this year's racing.

"Shane has demonstrated great resilience in returning to form following a spell of rehabilitation and since coming back to racing has shown a resurgence of the kind of ability that brought him to the WorldTour," said Aqua Blue general manager Stephen Moore. "We are delighted to have him on board for 2018 and look forward to taking advantage of his strengths."