The cyclocross season may have been forced into
hibernation in Ireland, for now, due to Covid-19 but that hasn’t stopped the
Irish on the ‘cross scene from getting involved at the deep end in Europe.
VeloRevolution-Cyclocross Custom Elite Cyclocross Team is
a new outfit competing in Europe; with Irish backing and a small pool of riders
from Ireland, Britain and America.
The new team is a joint venture between Ireland’s Michelle Geoghegan and US rider Corey Coogan Cisek and is sponsored by the Irish VeloRevolution clothing brand.
The Irish-American duo has also lined up a number of other sponsors and has taken full advantage of the services supplied by Cyclocross Custom, which is a main sponsor along with VeloRevolution.
The Irish clothing company has gone from strength to strength in recent years and is now one of the most recognisable homegrown cycling brands. It is owned by Aidan Crowley, a former top domestic road rider and Masters 40 Irish champion.
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Crowley has long
had his own Strata 3-VeloRevoltion team in Ireland which has ridden on the road
and in cyclocross, winning most of the biggest races in the country in recent
years.
The new European cyclocross team has the full range of VeloRevolution kit available to it including the ‘Belgian Bootie’, the ‘Storm Jacket’, the ‘Ice Thermal’, the ‘Pure Speed’ suit ranges as well as the team's ‘Tiger-Orange’ custom kit incorporating the Flanders lion.
The other main sponsor, Cyclocross Custom, provides the team's riders with all the support of pro team staff; on race day and in the periods between races.
On race days Cyclocross Custom cleans and maintains the riders’ bikes, pits for riders, and accompanies them to the start and finish. The riders can also stay dry and warm-up under Cyclocross Custom tents in the elite warm-up zone. Between events the mechanics overhaul bikes.
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Other team sponsors include Challenge tyres, Adams of Tralee, Adams of Glin, Triple C Coaching, Lazer, Red Geographics, Blitz Eyewear
With their sponsors in place Geoghegan and Coogan Cisek - along with British rider Laura Greenhalgh - are taking on a busy schedule of major pro races and UCI World Cup events.
Greenhalgh has been a top rower for over a decade and has won medals at world championships in that sport.
They’ve already taken in a number of events against the top pros in recent weeks – and stickybottle will shortly have an update from Geoghegan on their progress. Next weekend they will race the latest round of the UCI World Cup in Tabor, riding in the colours of VeloRevolution-Cyclocross Custom Elite Cyclocross Team.
Geoghegan is currently living in Oudenaarde, Belgium, and
Coogan Cisek will also live there until early January.
Indeed, Coogan Cisek secured an exception to enter Belgium
directly for racing, which enabled her get into the country on a fast-track
basis, but with added precautions.
Geoghegan has represented Ireland at World Cup level and has twice taken silver at the elite National Cyclocross Championships, including last season.
Coogan Cisek is in her fourth season in the off-road discipline in Belgium. She writes a column for ‘Cyclocross Magazine’ - “The Cyclocross Apprenticeship” - which is published in bimonthly rider diaries.
We’ll have more from Geoghegan shortly. Meanwhile, you can check out the team on Instagram here or on Facebook by following this link and on Twitter by following this link.
- If you have any team or rider news - about yourself or your team or club, or about someone else - for the weeks ahead or next season then drop us a line on Twitter via a DM or message us on Facebook. We'd be delighted to hear from you and to cover your team or rider news.
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