Matt Brammeier has been on the podium every day at the Tour de Langkawi, has held the points jersey and has the mountains classification secured, not to mention almost winning a stage and competing in the bunch sprints. It's been a great start to 2014 for the national champion.
By Shane Stokes
Needing simply to finish the race tomorrow to secure the King of the Mountains competition in the 2.HC-ranked Tour de Langkawi, Matt Brammeier has said that the success will help spur him on to more strong performances during the 2014 season.
“Of course it gives me confidence,” the Irish road race champion told stickybottle after today’s penultimate stage to Kuala Terengganu.
“And not just to have won a jersey. I came close to winning a stage, have been up in the sprints a few times without really that focus and riding and feeling really well in the last kilometres of each day.
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“That’s of course a good sign going into the next few races. It gives me confidence that I'm in good shape and that I’m ready for them.”
Brammeier took an early lead in the competition when he grabbed the KOM primes from his long-range breakaway group on stage one. He was also second at the finish and ended the day third overall.
The performance was a notable one, not least because it was his first race of 2014. He explained today that he fully expected and intended to be in good shape.
“I said a long time ago I wanted to start the season at a good level. I deliberately wanted to put some pressure on myself right from the off.
“I don't believe in racing as training anymore. I want to be in good shape every time I pin on a number. So I went away and worked hard all winter and managed to hit this race in good shape; of course I'm happy with how that went.”
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Brammeier had a frustrating time last season when he found out at short notice that his Champion System team was stopping.
He faced several weeks of uncertainty about where he would race in 2014, but ultimately inked a deal with the Azerbaijan-backed Synergy Baku team.
It is a squad with clear Irish links, being managed by David McQuaid and also featuring Connor McConvey and Philip Lavery as riders.
While Brammeier was psyched to go well in the Tour de Langkawi, he admits that the King of the Mountains jersey itself wasn’t a specific target at the very start.
“I had the goal of performing well, sniffing out a result in whatever way possible,” he explained.
However once he was in the red jersey, he started to think about his chances of winning it overall.
“I knew it was a possibility. I was riding well and feeling pretty good,” he explained.
“It just had to work in my favour on the toughest mountain day. It all went pretty well and I picked up points each day and held on to my lead all the way through.”
Brammeier led that contest from start to finish and with no more climbs to come, he knows that he simply needs to complete tomorrow’s stage to add his name to the list of winners of that classification.
It’s a big result and will fire him up for what comes next. He will travel back to Europe and will begin the Tour of Normandy on March 24th.
After that he will travel to South Africa for the Mzansi tour, then race in the Rund um Koln, the Tour of Bretange and the Tour of Azerbaijan.
The aim now is to keep building form; after a strong start to the season, Brammeier knows that he could be on the verge of his best year to date.
That motivates him greatly, and also rewards the faith shown in him by McQuaid.
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