Buggle riding in France for Ireland this year; he’s off to Australia with new team Rapha (Photo: Rik Masil)
By Brian Canty
Aaron Buggle will take his first steps as a professional rider in the coming weeks when he links up with his Rapha Condor JLT team for a series of criterium races while also taking in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (January 3rd-6th) in Australia.
The 22-year-old Meath native will be based in Melbourne, before starting the three-day Bay Crit Series on New Year’s Day.
The series - billed as the fastest criterium racing in the world – will conclude on the morning of January the 3rd, before the four-day Herald Sun Tour gets underway that same evening with a prologue time trial.
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In all, nine of the squad travelled to the southern hemisphere and will all race the crit races, with a six-man squad to be named for the Sun Tour, which is likely to include several WorldTour teams, among them the Garmin-Sharp squad of defending champion Nathan Haas.
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After the final stage of the Sun Tour, which finishes at the summit of the climb of Arthur’s Seat a few kilometres from Melbourne, the entire team will travel 150km north of Melbourne to Bendigo where they will be based for the following five weeks.
There, the riders will ride various races including the Victorian State Championships that will take place between the 18th -20th of January.
As the centre of cycling in country Victoria, Bendigo has a strong cycling community, and the riders will take part in various club level races and organized training sessions, along with the likes of former Rapha Condor riders Darren Lapthorne and Zak Dempster.
The team will return to the UK on the 13th of February ahead of the first races of the UK calendar.
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