Herrero joins Etxebarría at Baqué

Remember this fellow, the guy who used to get Euskaltel fans purring over his precocious talent and all-round ability? David Herrero Llorente, who took in two spells at the team before retiring in the Karpin-Galicia jersey at the tender age of 30 in the winter of 2009, will make a return to the cycling world after having been away for three years. Well, "away" might not be the best word, seeing as he's been working on the technical side of the sport with BH, Gebiomized and others ever since calling it quits. Next year, he'll be back in the amateur ranks with Cafés Baqué, where he'll work with biomechanics.

Herrero was a victim of the hard line set by Igor González de Galdeano back in 2007, leading an high-profile exodus from the team alongside the likes of Ibán Mayo, Iker Camaño and DS and icon Julián Gorospe. Allegedly the two parties couldn't reach an agreement over wages, and the Bilbao-born rider was forced to join Pro Continental outfit Karpin-Galicia.

At Karpin he showed glimpses of what he was made of with a handful of victories, including a stage at the Vuelta al País Vasco, but was forced to call it quits at the end of 2009, being left with no team after an injury-plagued couple of years.

Now he'll join former Euskaltel riders David Etxebarría and Xabier Artetxe at the traditional Basque amateur team. As well as announcing the hiring of Llorente, Cafés Baqué also revealed six new signings:

Iñigo Ojeda, Paul Usabel Lizundia and Eduardo Armengol Gonzalo come over from Koplad-Uni2, 18-year-old cyclo-cross talent Jonathan Bilbao joins from Gastronomía Baska, Antonio Angulo switches from Azysa-Telco'm-Conor and Alex García has prolonged his contract with Baqué.