Dillon Corkery may have taken a heavy blow in a crash at the European Road Championships at Drenthe in the Netherlands on Sunday, but the Irish rider has plenty to look forward to as he has signed for a French UCI Continental team next year. That move - which will be Corkery's first full season with a UCI-ranked team, will see him compete through the 2024 season in the pro peloton.
The 24-year-old, who has developed very impressively in France in recent seasons, took a real step up in his career this year. He won Rás Tailteann overall, taking a stage win along the way, and also represented Ireland in both the Worlds in Scotland and the Europeans at the weekend.
Corkery has ridden from leading French elite team, CC Étupes, for the past two seasons and in 2021 he spent the final months of the campaign with Irish Continental team, Evo Pro Racing.
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Next year he will step up to the Continental ranks for the full season with Saint-Michel Mavic Auber 93. It's line-up is almost exclusively French, something Corkery should have no difficulty adapting to given he has been based in France since he was a teenager.
This year the team has mostly competed in UCI-ranked races in France, and was expected to follow a similar programme next season. That will give Corkery the chance to race against ProContinental and World Tour opposition through the season.
Corkery was part of the Irish team, with Rory Townsend, that took on the road race at the Europeans last Sunday. However, with about 115km to go he was among a large group of riders involved in a crash in the peloton, while Townsend was in a breakaway two minutes up the road.
A number of the fallers in the crash were unable to continue in the race, with Corkery one of those. He was taken to hospital after the crash and medical checks have confirmed he has broken his elbow.
