Matt Brammeier has secured a new contract for next year after his 2013 team Champion System folded
By Brian Canty
National road race champion, Matt Brammeier has signed for Azerbaijani team Synergy Baku for next year.
The four-time Irish champion will join forces with three-time Olympian David McCann, who is a directeur at the UCI Continental-ranked squad while Dubliner David McQuaid is the general manager.
Fellow Irishman Connor McConvey is the only other Irish rider on the team. He rode for Synergy Baku in its first season this year and is returning for 2014.
Brammeier said he was delighted with the move.
“I raced a little with the guys in 2013 and noticed straight away the great professionalism and good vibe within the team,” Brammeier said, adding he had known McQuaid for some time.
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“I'm also good friends with some of the other guys on the team, Connor McConvey, David McCann and Jeremy Hunt are all good friends and I'm excited to start working with them and of course meeting all of the new faces over the next few weeks.”
“I have never won a GC at a stage race; that is something I would like to do. Of course I also want to try and retain my national title and have a strong and consistent year for the team.”
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“Hopefully I can pass on the experience I have to some of the younger guys on the team and help us all knit well together and really work as a unit. I really appreciate the chance the team has given me to be a part of what hopefully will be an ever growing project for cycling in Azerbaijan.”
Brammeier turned pro in 2006 with the DFL-Cyclingnews-LItespeed team before joining Profel Ziegler Continental Team for the next two years. He then rode for An Post-Sean Kelly in 2009 and 2010 before progressing to HTC Highroad for the 2011 season.
He had a great year there and the team had offered him a contract extension on better terms.
However, the US-based squad was unable to find the new sponsors needed to continue and so the team folded, leaving Brammeier without a berth for 2012.
He quickly secured a ride with Omega Pharma-Quickstep, though his time spent there did not seem to go as smoothly as his season with HTC Highroad. At the end of the year he found himself out of contract.
He then signed for Asian-based Pro Continental squad Champion System for this year but that has folded, leaving Brammeier again on the hunt for a team.
There had been rumours he may go back to An Post-Chainreaction, though cold water was quickly poured on that idea, with Brammeier having now signed for Synergy Baku.
McQuaid said that as an Irishman, he was delighted to welcome the reigning Irish champion to the squad, which he said would progress to Pro Continental level in 2015.
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