Connor McConvey seems to be settling in well at Synergy Baku after moving from An Post-Sean Kelly
By Graham Healy
Following on from his recent performances in the Tour of Thailand where he came close to winning a stage in addition to finishing in 5th place overall, Connor McConvey has returned home to Belfast prior to his next big challenge, the Tour of Azerbaijan.
Coming into the last few stages of the Thailand race, McConvey sat in a good position to challenge for GC, but found it difficult to get away.
“I tried to move up (on GC) for sure. The racing was shut down a bit; a few of the teams had combined interests and rode together so that made it very difficult. We managed to get a group clear on the last day, a real aggressive day. The jersey missed it, but all the other GC riders had numbers in the break. I was very active, but was given no rope at all.”
Advertisement
He feels he missed his opportunity to win the race overall earlier in the week.
“I basically lost the race on the second day; the day we had yellow, I should have been in that move.”
Overall though, the Belfast man was happy to have finished in 5th.
Related News
“I really had the legs to be higher, but it was good to be back racing at the sharp end, especially given the race had no real selective hilly days.”
Next up for McConvey is the Tour of Azerbaijan in two weeks time.
It’s a particularly important race for the Synergy-Baku team, and they will want to impress in their home tour.
McConvey feels that the team, under the guidance of David McCann and Jeremy Hunt, have really gelled auguring well for the rest of the season.
“The team has really taken off,” he said.
“There's always a settling down period, but we seem to have overcome that really quickly with wins and podiums in a few of our first races. We'll carry that momentum on for the rest of the season and should pick up more along the way.”
Following on from the Azerbaijani tour, McConvey then hopes to line up in the Ronde de l’Isard. The French stage race can be a really good shop window for riders to be noticed, with the likes of Denis Menchov and Thor Hushovd having performed well here previously, not to mention Philip Deignan who won the race overall in 2004.
After the Ronde de l’Isard, he will then line up in the Rás, a race which he has ridden twice and finished in 4th and 7th. It’s a race that suits him, and he feels that Synergy-Baku can compete for the win.
“We should have a very solid team going, something that’s important in the Rás. It's so unpredictable that you definitely need a few people who can win the race in any one team.”
Topics
