The junior team being assembled by Nicolas Roche and Philip Finnegan is taking shape
By Brian Canty
The Nicolas Roche Performance Team has secured a title sponsor to back it for the coming year, with the company to have naming rights on the new squad.
The team, with Roche himself as principal and Phil Finnegan as manager, comprises eight of the most promising first and second year juniors in the country.
The riders – with the exception of David McCarthy - met up in Co Meath last week for a day of information talks as well as a 90km training ride. Team adviser Barry Sutton led the spin.
Finnegan told stickybottle he is pleased at how the team is progressing.
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“We had a meeting last weekend, it went very well. We’ve a sponsor on board and they’ll come back to me this week to let me know what they want the team to be known as.”
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Finnegan has been busy behind the scenes trying to get the logistics in order, such as gear, nutrition and sponsors but all is moving in the right direction as the new season looms.
“I did a deal on group-sets last Thursday with SRAM and we’ve bikes in place from TURAS - an Irish company who bring frames in from Italy. And we’re just signing off on the kit. Our budget and the majority of our equipment is in place – we just need spare wheels and we’re also looking for a casual clothing sponsor. We’ve a car, a bike rack. So it’s going really well.”
“Our camp last week in Meath was good. I gave a talk, basically laying out our plans for the first six weeks. And Mark from TURAS spoke, then Austin Mooney who is helping us out as a therapist spoke to the riders and Padraic Quinn – he's behind the clothing company Velotec and he gave a talk too. Padraic has a ton of experience from being away racing in the past so he’ll be a good source of information for the riders and what they can expect.”
As regards racing, the entry has already been lodged for the An Post Gorey Three-Day and that will be the first big target.
“I’ve looked at the Gorey Three-day and entered it so that’s our first big goal. Then we’ll be looking to ride a stage-race in France, the Tro-Bro in Lyon in April. So we’re looking forward to getting going. We’ll have another camp in about three weeks time and we’ll know more then.”
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