Confirmed: Euskaltel sign Ricardo Mestre

BiciCiclismo today confirms Euskaltel have secured the services of Portuguese 29-year-old Ricardo Mestre.

The victor of the Volta ao Portugal's 2011 edition has long been linked with a switch to the orange squad after news broke of the team being on the look-out for foreign riders to aid the team in its quest for a WorldTour licence in 2013. Despite having won such a prestigious race as the Portuguese tour overall, not to mention back-to-back wins in the Trofeo Joaquim Agostinho/GP Internacional Torres Vedras, the native of Faro, the country's southernmost city, has spent his entire career up until this point at Continental-ranked teams. He's spent the last seven years with the ever-mutuating squad that is now called Carmin-Prio.

Check out his profile here.

Mestre is at the time being ranked 277th in the UCI's Europe Tour rankings with 53 points to his name.

As Igor González de Galdeano and co. are hoping to catch their rivalling teams for a WorldTour licence by surprise, so to speak, the signings won't be made official until the 20th of October.

Photo: www.foradejogo08.blogspot.com