Grand Tour veteran Larry Walbus will move from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to Tudor Pro Cycling in 2025, continuing his pro cycling career for a 13th season, the team confirmed Friday.

Warbasse's one-year deal completes the 30-rider Swiss ProTeam roster. To support the newly signed team leaders Julien Alaphilippe, two-time world champion in road racing, and Marc Hirsi, stage winner in the Tour de France and runner-up in the 2024 Amstel Gold Race, he added a new climbing and versatility aspect added to the mix. In August, both athletes will sign three-year contracts to help the Swiss team achieve its lofty goals beginning in 2025.

A former U.S. pro road champion and dependable domestique with a decade of WorldTour experience, Warbasse has rarely ridden for himself. He finished fifth in GC at this year's Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine.

His last race with Decathlon AG2R, to which he belonged for six years, was the four-race Giro del Emilia to Il Lombardia earlier this month. During his stay in Italy, he stopped by the Church of Madonna del Ghisallo, a sacred place for cyclists on the shores of Lake Como, where he posted on social media: “I pray to the cycling gods. It seems to have worked.

“I was in contact with a few teams about the upcoming season, and it was kind of touch and go, and the end of the season was getting closer and closer. But all of a sudden one day my cell phone rang and it was a Swiss number. I picked up the phone and it was Raphael Mayer, the boss of Tudor Pro Cycling. [He] realized that they needed another rider for next season and wanted to talk to me. He came to see me the next day with their sport director.

“It sounds like a great project and a team I've been following for a long time, and I think 2025 is going to be a great year.”

Warbas will serve as a support as well as a mentor.

“Next season will be my 13th season as a professional, and I'm looking forward to helping the leaders perform at their best in the big races, as well as mentoring the young guys on the team to reach their full potential,” said Warbus

“It's going to be a great season.

“It's a great project and the team is progressing rapidly. It's an ambitious and forward-thinking team with top-level partners from Tudor to BMC and many others.” Can't wait to get started.

Warbus told Cycling News just before Il Lombardia that he is “really sad” to stop racing at the young age of 34. He felt he still had more to give. He said, “I love this sport and I love racing my bike.”

In the 2024 Vuelta a España, he became the first Australian on the Grand Tour podium, leading Ben O'Connor to second place overall after wearing the leader's jersey for 13 days. Walbas played an important role not only in the success of the Vuelta, but also in two other races earlier in the season.

“Ben was fourth in Tirreno-Adriatico and fourth in the Giro d'Italia. Ben was fourth in Tirreno-Adriatico and fourth in the Giro d'Italia. I was always there, I was consistent in and out of the race, and that's an important part of being an experienced domestique,” Warbus told Cycling News.

Now O'Connor turns his talents to Jaco-Aroura. Instead of pursuing a new career as a broadcaster, team manager, or gravel privateer, an idea born from his 19th-place finish at the 2023 Unbound Gravel 200, Warbus is continuing his career on the bike.

Tudor Pro Cycling, an initiative of two-time Olympic and five-time world champion cyclist Fabian Cancellara, moved from the Swiss Racing Academy in 2022 to the professional team level in 2023. 2024 he made his first Grand Tour appearance at the Giro d'Italia.

Warbasse will be one of the riders looking to return to the Giro, the Grand Tour in which he has competed most often, with six of the 11 Grand Tours. He also has a chance to compete in the Tour de France again this year.