Robert O'Leary won a brilliant stage of the Junior Tour of Ireland and finished second overall, by three seconds. He was racing in the national colours and would also do so at the European Championships in the summer. He joins an already formidable looking UCD-Fitzcycles.ie team for 2017
By Brian Canty
One of the country’s best junior riders in 2016 has joined UCD-Fitzcycles.ie for the forthcoming season.
Robert O’Leary, from Cork, will link up with the likes of Eoin Morton, Ian Richardson and Paul O’Reilly in what is fast becoming one of the strongest teams on the domestic scene.
The 2016 season was a superb one for the team, with Morton claiming a stage of the An Post Rás and also winning the VisitNenagh Classic.
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Paul O’Reilly was one of the standout riders in both cyclocross and the road scene.
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Ian Richardson won the Suir Valley Three Day with a thrilling late smash-and-grab on the final stage while he also produced another stunning general classification ride at the An Post Rás in May.
O’Leary, a stage winner at the Junior Tour and who finished second overall as well as winning the Gorey Three-Day, is now in college in UCD so the move is a natural one.
He raced for the Cork Giant Team as a junior under the guidance of Will Curtin and should be looking to impress in his first year in the espoir ranks.
The teenager has been a regular on the Irish team and will be very hopeful of progressing into the U23 national squad.
While he will need to balance his racing and training with the demands of college until his exams are completed in the spring, he looks like a rider with all the tools to make rapid progress.
We will have a chat with him in the coming days.
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