With David McQuaid in charge the team became one of the best Continental outfits on the UCI Europe Tour - a significant achievement considering it started from scratch less than four years ago.
By Brian Canty
David McQuaid has stepped down as general manager of the Synergy Baku Cycling Project after four years at the helm.
The Irishman made a big impression during that time and as well as qualifying riders for the Rio Olympics he was instrumental in the squad's successes as a Continental team and in setting up the project.
Backed by the Azeri government, the team was also registered in Azerbaijan.
McQuaid gave Irish riders a chance during his tenure, with Connor McConvey and Matt Brammeier both enjoying good runs. Philip Lavery also rode for it for a short period.
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Ex-pro and well-known Irish cycling figure David McCann was a manager during McQuaid’s time with the team.
Markus Eibegger winning on Seskin Hill during the 2014 Rás; he is hopeful the move will bring benefits on a number of levels.
McQuaid had hoped to involve more Irish personnel but with the team’s main focus on qualifying riders from Azerbaijan for the Rio Games it was always going to be difficult to get even more Irish involved.
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McQuaid has said in the past the team was not immune from the current economic climate and that as it took shape budgetary adjustments were needed.
The team rode the An Post Rás in 2013 and performed very well, with Connor McConvey finishing 2nd and joint on time with winner Marcin Bialoblocki. McConvey won the climbers' classification at the Tour of Azerbaijan in 2013
Synergy Baku rider Kirill Pozdnyakov won a stage in Glengarriff in the 2013 Rás and Rico Rogers was victorious for the team two days later.
Four-time national road race champion Matt Brammeier in the red jersey of King of the Mountains at the Tour of Langkawi in 2014 when riding for Synergy Baku.
The following year the team also won two stages in the Rás; Jan Sokol taking stage 3 and Markus Eibegger winning on Seskin Hill three days later.
During McQuaid's time Synergy Baku took a total of 38 wins in UCI races.
Aside from chasing results the team took a stand against doping and last year joined the anti-doping Movement for Credible Cycling.
And it backed up talk with action in February 2015 when it suspended one of its riders for an adverse finding in a dope test that took place before he joined the team.
We’ll have an interview with McQuaid in the coming days where he speaks about his reasons for stepping away from the Azeri squad and what he plans to do next.
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