It was announced today that cross legend Richard Groenendaal has signed a two year contract to race cyclocross for AA drink. AA Drink (after activity drink) is historically an all womans cycling team, but Groenendaal will extend the team’s reach into men’s pro cyclocross.
The 2000 cyclocross World Champion leaves an eleven year career at Rabobank after receiving an unexpectedly low offer this year. Cyclingnews quotes Groenendaal on leaving the Rabobank squad:
I will ride for two more seasons. Afterwards, I would have liked to work within the team as an adviser for the cyclo-cross team, but that was not offered. That hurts more than the low offer. With my know-how and experience, I have lots to offer. Oh well, I can use this somewhere else now.
Looks like his know-how and experience will now go to AA Drink, their riders and sponsors. He’ll be riding frames by Koga-Miyata, and as they don’t currently offer a cyclocross bike, Richard has been helping with design. It’ll be interesting to see what detail comes to this first generation rig designed by an old school cross hard man.
I’m excited to see Richard on a new team, and next time we have one of those Nys vs Groenendaal battles, all the “they are team mates” arguments can be tossed aside.
Take a sip ladies and gentlemen, it’s on.
dog4aday on 
Now that he is not bound to a big team will we get to see the return of the single chainring setup?