Cian Keogh set for European road team with busy calendar of UCI races | Sticky Bottle

Cian Keogh in TT action at the recent National Road Championships in Limerick. He's now set for the European road race scene with a Dutch team but will also ride for a new Irish track outfit (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Irish cyclist Cian Keogh has secured a place with a Dutch team for next year, when he will ride a mix of U23 and elite races with UCI ranking.

The 21-year-old, who rode for Spellman-Dublin Port at home this season is also working on plans to continue his track racing, but at this stage his road race plans are more fixed.

The 21-year-old will race with Willebrord Wil Vooruit, a
well-known Dutch team with long-running elite and junior squads and which is
now creating an U23 set-up, which Keogh is set to join.

The Dutch team has helped produced some top pros down the years with the likes of Ian Stannard, Thomas De Gendt and Dylan Groenewegen all having ridden for the team in the past.

*Cian Keogh leads the way on Mondello Park; a venue where he has taken several wins in recent seasons (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

The squad will ride the TopCompetitie series in Holland which feature teams like SEG Racing and the Continental-level development teams of WorldTour outfits such as Lotto-Soudal, Jumbo Visma and Groupama-FDJ.

Some of the TopCompetitie races are broadcast on TV and are elite UCI-ranked events, with a mix of U23 international riders and more experience older elites.

*Spellman-Dublin Port on the way to the men's team pursuit title at the National Track Championships this year, with Keogh a member of the winning line-up* *(Photo: Matthew Lysaght)*

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Keogh will also ride Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux, a stage race in Belgium in April. It’s an event Eddie Dunbar, now an Ineos Grenadiers, was 2nd in as an U23, beaten to victory by Jasper Philipsen, now UAE Team Emirates.

“After that I have another UCI U23 race in Germany and there’s
about 11 pro races in total amongst the calendar,” Keogh told stickybottle

“The rest are non-UCI races including the U23 Holland
Cup, a stage race in France and an U23 race in Spain.

“The team also plans to ride the Rás if it goes ahead and
will also be riding Omloop Het Nieuwsblad U23.”

Keogh will be based in Tilburg in the province of North Brabant, close to the border with Belgium.

Keogh won the Beechmount Cup, was 4^th in the U23 TT and the
National Road Championships and claimed the Irish team pursuit title with
Spellman Dublin Port, among many other results this year.