Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing is set to press
ahead with its season debut this weekend in Belgium despite continued uncertainty
over the future of an agreement with Cycling Ireland that now looks at risk.
The team will line out at Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré (1.1) this Sunday; a 203km race from
Hooglede to Roeselare. It
usually ends in a bunch sprint and was won by Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) last year from Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who began his comeback with 2nd
place.
This time around EvoPro will look to its main sprinter, Michael
Van Staeyen, for a result; the Belgian a former Cofidis team member.
There are two Irish riders in the EvoPro team for this weekend in the shape of Daire Feeley and Conn McDunphy. Both were among a team line-up - including co-founder Morgan Fox - that were the star turns at the Challenge CC Reliability Trial in Clarenbridge, Co Galway, last weekend.
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Feeley is returning to the team he last rode for in 2019 and having since spent two years back home in Ireland. During that time he was top ranked Cycling Ireland A1 rider, won the National Road Series and also claimed silver in the men’s road race at the National Road Championships last year.
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McDunphy enjoyed a strong period as a stagiaire with
EvoPro Racing last year when the former Irish elite TT champion put in several
aggressive displays in some tough pro races.
Also in the Irish team’s line-up for Sunday are Maarten Verheyen, the U23 Belgian road race champion, and Rhys Britton, a British track international who took bronze in the scratch race at the Worlds last year and bronze in the team pursuit at the Europeans.
They will be joined by Eamon Lucas, a US rider who has taken 13 wins at elite level in Belgium in recent years and is new to EvoPro Racing, as well as French rider Dylan Guinet, who is returning for a second season with EvoPro.
The Continental team, which was founded in 2019, appeared to have reached an agreement with the Irish national governing body late last year to create a Cycling Ireland Academy within the EvoPro structure. That arrangement would have resulted in five young riders being supported by Cycling Ireland within the team.
However, a dispute soon emerged with Cycling Ireland – especially at board level – over how the heads of the agreement were reached, what it contained and how much information was shared internally at the time it was being agreed. That agreement is now currently “under review” within Cycling Ireland.
