Action from this year’s An Post Ras (Photo: Lorraine O’Sullivan, Inpho)
We’ve updated our round-up of domestic and foreign based Irish rider transfer news and also news of club developments at home. If we’re missing anything or anyone, just drop us a line through the ‘contact us’ function on the site.
An Post Sean Kelly
Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin, Mark Cassidy and Connor McConvey have all re-signed.
Sean Downey is a new signing for next year.
Mark McNally had been offered a contract with Europcar but they failed to secure a ProTour licence and this put on hold some of their planned rider recruitment, including McNally’s. He has resigned for An Post-Sean Kelly as a result.
Gediminas Bagdonas had been offered a contract with Spanish outfit Geox but now the sponsor has pulled out and the team has collapsed. Like McNally, he has now re-signed with An Post-Sean Kelly for 2012.
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Other new signings for the 2012 include:
Jonny Bellis, the former Saxo-SunGard pro and U23 Worlds road race bronze medalist is coming back after a troubled period following a motorbike accident and has signed with An Post-Sean Kelly.
Jon Mould, a 20-year-old from Newport in Wales, is a product of the GB track set-up and has won a European junior track title and has signed for the Irish-Belgian team.
Roy Jans, a 21-year-old who won a lot of junior races in his native Belgium has signed for An Post-Sean Kelly after completing his studies.
Stijn Ennekens, comes to the team as part of something of a comeback after winning a lot of mid ranking races in his native Belgium.
Scott Law, a 20-year-old Australian from Blacktown, New South Wales, is a stage winner in the Tour of Geelong. He has won no fewer than 20 track, TT and road race Australian and Oceanic titles since his mid teens. He is the reigning omnium and scratch race Australian champion.
Mark Christian is a 20-year-old from the Isle of Man and a bronze medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth games. He first signed for the GB Olympic development programme in 2007 and won the Junior Rundfahrt in Germany the following year as well as medaling at the Junior European Track Championships.
Joren Segers, a 19-year-old from Lommel in Belgium, he is a road race and criterium specialist and joins the An Posts from the Omega Pharma-Lotto Davo team. He had a number of top five placings in 2011.
Niels Wytinck, a 20-year-old from Eeklo in Belgium is the fourth new signing from Belgium by the An Post-Sean Kelly team. He is the 2011 Ronde van Noord Holland (1.2) winner and was 9th in the junior Tour of Flanders two years ago.
Individual riders
Anthony Walsh, who rode for UCD in 2011, has decided to take himself to France next year having completed his studies to be a barrister. He will ride for Apoge Super U Cycliste near Bordeaux.
Aaron Buggle is moving from UV Aube to Apoge Super U Cycliste near Bordeaux, where he will ride alongside Anthony Walsh.
Mark Rohan, the paracycling double world champion, has landed a scholarship from ‘Sky Sports’ under a programme designed by the broadcaster to support potential Olympic champions
Philip Lavery has parted company with An Post-Sean Kelly and joined the UK’s newest UCI Continental outfit ‘Node 4–Giordana Racing Team’.
Jack Wilson, the national junior champion in 2010, will spend his first year as a senior next year with the USC Crabbe Performance Voo in Limburg, Belgium.
Ryan Mullen, the current national junior champion, is planning to stay with Planet X for the first months of next season before joining Jack Wilson at USC Crabbe Performance Voo in Limburg, Belgium
Martyn Irvine’s plans for next year are still undecided and it is anything but certain that he will remain at Giant Kenda.
David McCann is still with Giant Kenda but his plans for next year are not yet confirmed.
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Stephen Halpin has signed for new UK pro team Metaltek-SCOTT and will ride mainly in the UK next year, but also with stage races in France and Spain in his programme.
Siobhan Dervan-Horgan, the women’s road race champion, is staying with her French squad Team GSD Gestion.
Michelle Geoghegan, the Kerry native is on the comeback trail after injury and will ride for the Belgian Steeds-Vooraan squad.
Nicholas Roche is staying with Ag2r but looks set to relinquish some leadership duties to focus more on stage wins in races rather than GC. This tactic worked very well at the Tour of Beijing, bagging a stage win for a rider whose natural race style is one of aggression.
Damien Shaw (Lakeside) and Ryan Sherlock (SportActive) are both said to be looking for teams next year, with a move into Continental level believed to be favoured by both.
Dan Martin is staying with Garmin Cervelo and will most likely enjoy team leader status much more often after emerging in 2011 as one of the best riders in the world. Now ranked 9th in the UCI rankings, a major ride in a Grand Tour is definitely on the cards following his Vuelta exploits last year.
Philip Deignan has moved from Radioshack to US-based Pro Continental team Unitedhealthcare, where he will assume a team leadership role. He will be based mainly in the US, but the team will also ride major races in Europe.
Matt Brammeier has moved from the now defunct HTC-Highroad to new entity Omega Pharma-Quickstep. He is back training again after an operation to remove a pin from his femur.
Felix English has signed for UK continental squad Rapha Condor-Sharp and will ride mainly in the UK next year, with some assignments further afield.
Peter Hawkins, the former national criterium champion, will ride next year with British continental outfit Team Sigma Sport Specialized.
Darragh Zaidan, who has represented Ireland, is moving from Stevens-Cyclelogical to VC Morteau in France for 2012.
Conor Dunne – is staying with his 2011 team in Belgium next year ‘Vl Technics – Abutriek’. The squad has been reduced to 20 riders instead of 30 and is looking to increase its programme further.
Eoin McCarthy – will continue to ride for ASFRA Racing Team-Flanders based in Oudenaarde, Belgium, where he spent the 2011 season.
Claire Oakley, the 18-year-old who holds junior national titles for mountain biking, cyclocross, track and road, will remain at WXC Mountain Bike Team UK. She has also just become involved in the Offroad2Rio project, which is aimed at qualifying female riders for future Olympics.
Stephen Clancy, voted Irish-based rider of the year for the season just gone, will move from Limerick CC to the Tim Barry-run team that was known as The Edge this year (see team news below).
Paidi O’Brien, the former An Post-Sean Kelly rider and FBD Ras runner-up behind pro TT World Champion Tony Martin, moves from SportActive to Tim Barry’s new rebranded team for 2012.
Team developments
Team DMG, established in Co Tipperary a couple of years ago with the intention of becoming a development squad for would-be Irish professionals, it has secured financial backing for 2012 and will shortly unveiled that sponsor.
Cork County CC, the club is not yet a year old but has been busy recruiting riders and has also secured a sponsor for next year, which it will be revealing in the next couple of weeks. It is planning a major charity event in the coming year and an underage team.
Ratoath BMX – Established to build and run the new BMX race track in the Co Meath village, it now has around 300 members making it one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cycling club in Ireland.
Dectek – The technology company has ended its association with Dunboyne-Clonee CC but is soon expected to announce details of other cycling ventures for next year.
Dunboyne-Clonee CC (sponsored by Dectek in 2011) – has just announced it will be sponsored by retailer DID Electrical, with Cycleways as a secondary backer.
SportActive – It’s unclear if the team will continue next year in its current guise.
The Edge – The Tim Barry run outfit has parted company with its sponsor of the past two years, The Edge triathlon shops. It will be back in 2012 with two new title sponsors and rebranded as Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes’.
Carrick Wheelers has landed a new three-year deal with with South East fruit and vegetable company Iverk Produce.
Tralee Bicycle Club, has attracted a new sponsor in the shape of the Manor West Hotel in Tralee. It has also launched a new look website and new team kit.
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