Matt Doyle riding the junior World Championships in 2012. The Donegal man was one of the most promising juniors of recent times before he decided to quit the sport two years ago. He plans to return in 2016 wearing the Foyle CC colours.
By Brian Canty
Former Irish junior international Matt Doyle has found the lure of racing too much and has decided to return to the domestic peloton in 2016, having stepped away from it just over two years ago.
The 20 year-old from Muff, Co. Donegal will ride for Foyle CC next year and take out an A2 licence, hoping to resume the career he opted out of in late 2013.
Doyle showed really good promise as a junior and wore the green of Ireland on a number of occasions.
He was forced to miss the Junior Tour of Ireland because of illness but in his first year in the age group (in 2012) he took silver in the national road race championships behind Liam Corcoran (Castlebar CC) and represented Ireland at the World Road Race Championships in Valkenburg
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He spent a portion of that summer – and the previous one, in Belgium and he even managed to take a win as a first-year junior, something very few riders have done.
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He was due to race with a team in Belgium in 2014 but that move never materialised.
One of Doyle’s last races was the World Junior Track Championships in August 2013 where he rode in a team pursuit squad beside Dylan Foley, Thomas Fallon and Mark Downey.
A month after that, Doyle was named as first reserve for the World Road Race Championships in Florence, something that left him bitterly disappointed.
Dylan Foley, Eddie Dunbar and Mark Downey were the three riders selected for the road race and time-trials, respectively.
Following that race Doyle decided to take a break but always stated his intention to return to cycling at some point.
We’ll have a longer interview with Doyle in the coming weeks.
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