Tyler Butterfield?s goal of becoming a world-class cyclist moved a step closer this week when he signed for one of the newest and best professional cycling teams in America.

Having spent the last two years with top amateur team Vendee U in France, the highly-rated Bermudian has been recruited by two-year-old SlipStream Sports, run by former US Postal rider Jonathan Vaughters ? a Tour de France veteran.

The team were this year crowned champions at the US National Pro Criterium and aim specifically to take on the best young riders in America.

Speaking from his base just outside Nantes in France, Butterfield said the move was ?absolutely crucial? if he wanted to realise his true potential on the bike.

?It?s absolutely brilliant to be signed by such a young, ambitious team,? said the former triathlete and the son of recent Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame inductee Jim Butterfield.

?The great thing about it also is that although they are an American team, the vast majority of the races they compete in are in Europe so I won?t have to move or anything like that.

?It?s a fantastic opportunity for me, though, because it is all about progressing. At the moment racing for an amateur team I race on about 50 days a year but in the pro ranks you tend to race at least 65 days a year.

?And the length of the races tend to be longer as well. Whereas now the average length of the races for me is anywhere between 150 to 180 kilometres, next year I?ll be completing in races of up to 230 kilometres.

?So the quantity and quality of the racing is much higher and I?ll be in an environment where I really should improve.?

Professional cycling is divided into three divisions ? Pro Tour, Continental Pro and Continental ? with the young, 20-rider SlipStream outfit currently in the lowest Continental tier.

The Pro Tour is made up of 18 teams ? all of whom are required to race in all the top events, including the Tour de France ? and while Butterfield admitted that it could be ?three or four years? before his new team might be capable of reaching those heady heights, the talent to make the jump is certainly there, he added.

?It?s very, very unlikely that we?ll be in a position as a team to qualify for the Tour de France next year,? he said.

?But even though we are in the lowest tier, the way professional cycling works is that teams from all three tiers tend to race against each other at different events ? maybe not every week, but certainly on a pretty regular basis.

?So I really am going to have to step up to a whole new level because the intensity and dedication required to do well will be greater.

?I?ve got a huge amount out of my time with Vendee U but after two years as an amateur it is the right time to move on. Competing in the Tour de France is definitely something I would like to achieve and one of the things included on my new team?s Mission Statement is to eventually qualify for that, so I think we?re both looking for the same things.

?Professional cycling is not the easiest lifestyle. From January right through to the end of the season in October you are at the beck and call of the team and essentially travelling to wherever you are told to go and race.

?So there are plenty of sacrifices I will have to make ? but I?m prepared to make them because I want to see how far I can go.?

Butterfield, who produced one of the rides of his life to miss out on a medal by mere seconds in the 166-mile Commonwealth Games road race in March, will spend the rest of the year training and racing with Vendee-U before starting his professional contract on January 1, 2007.