Matt Brammeier in his Irish champion’s jersey riding for Omega Pharma-Quick Step this year
By Brian Canty
Elite national road race champion, Matt Brammeier has revealed he will not be riding with Omega Pharma-Quick Step for the 2013 season.
The 27-year-old will not have his contract renewed by the Belgian outfit but should know in the coming weeks where his future lies.
It’s been a very trying year for the three-time national champion, with a niggling knee issue hampering his progress. He told stickybottle he had routine surgery on his right leg last Wednesday that will keep him off the bike for the next few weeks, though he believes there is no long term problem.
“I had that on Wednesday and everything was fine and went to plan,” he said of the surgery.
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“It was a little bit painful at first but I’m feeling OK; a few days on the sofa and I’ll be OK. I’ll get physiotherapy for a couple of weeks and I’ll be all good.”
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“It was straightforward; just the tissue inside the right (leg), they wanted to clean up. It was causing some friction on the cartilage so they just cleaned it up. It was fine; one day in and out. It wasn’t really a major thing but I was in quite a bit of pain as the season was dragging on. Something had to be done so it’s sorted now.”
Indeed, while many wondered about his withdrawals from the Tour of Austria and Utah, the answer it appears has been found. He said he’s looking forward, not back , after a difficult year.
“It started in the Tour of Austria and I had to pull out there and then in Colorado, it was okay in the one-day races, bearable. But it was always going to come back so it needed to be sorted. As soon as I can get back on my bike I’ll start riding again. I’m not really going to put dates on it. I’m done for this year, I’m just going to have a break now and try and get in good shape then afterwards for next year.”
Brammeier rode for two seasons with the An Post Sean Kelly team (2009 and 2010) before joining HTC Highroad for 2011. Having had a great year with them he had been offered a two-year extension just before the team collapsed.
He then moved on to Omega Pharma-Quick Step at the end of last year. While he lifted the national road title in June, he had been sidelined from the spring classics – his first big goal of the season – due to bronchitis and then the latter half of the season has hindered by his knee issue.
Stickybottle wishes him a speedy and full recovery and looks forward to seeing him back in the pro bunch again next year.
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