Twenty-two-year-old Austrian rider Matthias Brändle will reinforce Team NetApp next season. He is the seventh new rider to sign on. Brändle is transferring from Team Geox - TMC to the German ProContinental team.

As part of Team NetApp, Matthias Brändle will develop further into an all-round rider. He demonstrated his all-rounder qualities during the season just completed by claiming the sprinter's jersey at the Tour de Romandie and taking the team classification at the Vuelta a España. He also participated in the U23 World Championships in both disciplines.

"Matthias is a perfect fit in terms of our concept. He's young but already brings with him skills that we will be able to make good use of in our tour team. He's a fast sprinter, a good time-trial rider, an active rider. He can both support the team and take advantage of his own opportunities at smaller tours," according to Ralph Denk, Team NetApp's team manager.

"My special thanks go out to SIMPLON. Matthias lives just 20 minutes from our bike sponsor's headquarters. SIMPLON helped us considerably when it came to signing Matthias. There's a familiarity going back many years and a lot of excitement now that Matthias, a Vorarlberg rider, will be competing with Team NetApp on SIMPLON bikes," Denk added.

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Team NetApp 2012 (as of November 28, 2011)

Jan Barta (CZE), Jerome Baugnies (BEL), Cesare Benedetti (ITA), Matthias Brändle (AUT), Steven Cozza (USA), Andreas Dietziker (SUI), Markus Eichler (GER), Reto Hollenstein (SUI), Bartosz Huzarski (POL), Grischa Janorschke (GER), Blaz Jarc (SLO), Leopold König (CZE), Andreas Schillinger (GER), Daniel Schorn (AUT), André Schulze (GER), Michael Schwarzmann (GER), Timon Seubert (GER)