 On the road he already won the Tour of Tunisia as an amateur at the age of 18 and in 1999 a stage of the Tour of Rheinland Palatinate.In 2000 he rode for Agro-Adler Brandenburg winning two stages of the Tour of Chile and a stage in both the Tour of Argentina and the Tour of Lower Saxony.In 2001 he won the Tour of Brandenburg and a stage of the Peace Race.