Nate Brown joins Rally-UHC as road captain

American Nate Brown will jump to Rally-UHC for the 2020 season, the team revealed Tuesday morning in a release. Brown is set to join Rally-UHC as the team’s road captain, to replace the departing Svein Tuft, who retired at the end of 2019.

Brown, 28, comes to Rally-UHC after racing for six years in the WorldTour with the Cannondale/EF Education First team.

“It’s been an amazing six years, but after taking a step back and speaking with my family, we decided Rally-UHC Cycling was best suited for the things I still want to achieve in cycling,” Brown said in a release. “I’m really looking forward to getting some opportunities to lead and I”m excited to see what I can do.”

Brown wore the polka dot jersey for two stages during the 2017 Tour de France and he finished second in the Under-23 version of Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013. He has completed six grand tours.

Brown becomes the latest WorldTour rider to step into the road captain role at Rally-UHC. Danny Pate previously held that role in 2017 and 2018, and this season it was Tuft who was the team’s captain.

“We brought Nate in because he’s a super-strong rider with a ton of experience, and he’s a good fit personality-wise with our current group,” said Jonas Carney, Rally-UHC’s performance director. “Plus, he’s only 28 years old and has a lot more to give.”

Carney said he expects Brown to step into a leadership role with the team.