Marc Potts has enjoyed some great results on home roads and is now looking to Belgium to improve as a rider; seen here winning the Annaclone GP back in February (Photo: Marian Lambe, Cycling Ulster)
Omagh Wheelers rider Marc Potts will join the growing number of Irish riders racing in Belgium next season after securing a place with the PCT-Tomacc team. He will relocate to Europe on completion of his final college exams next May.
Potts spent a month on trial with the team this year and impressed sufficiently to be awarded a slot for the coming season.
His best result was a fifth place in the Boezinge kermesse in late July, which was won by fellow northern Irishman Marcus Christie. Potts also notched a 14th and 9th in some of the other races he rode while in Belgium and is looking to build on that in 2014.
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“I did a total of nine races over there this year and I found myself struggling with the heat in the first few races. But I feel I adapted to the climate pretty quickly and really shocked myself,” he said.
The Omagh Wheelers man had travelled to Europe after being selected as part of the ‘Belgian Project’. It is essentially a foundation established by Dany Blondeel, a Belgian living in Northern Ireland.
Each year Blondeel selects two or three riders, depending on available funding, and sends them to Belgium to race in a professional set-up.
Many of them have then benefitted from the help of Rik Masil who lives in Belgium. The riders have stayed with Masil for periods and have been brought to and from races.
Both Blondeel and Masil - now adopted Irishmen - have given huge assistance to the development of our riders over the years, much of it in the background of the sport and unheralded.
Potts’ end-of-season goal this year was to gain racing experience in Europe. On July 18th he left for Poperringe, West Vlaaderen, Belgium, where he lived in a house with eight other members of the PCT-Tomacc team.
He described the month-long trial period as “an amazing experience” and is already making plans for next summer.
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“The team manager was really impressed with my consistency, so much so that he has offered me a ride in the 2014 team,” he added.
Potts is a product of the youth development program set up by the Omagh Wheelers in 2012 which provided support - in coaching and equipment - to club members.
The program received significant backing and will be sponsored in the main by Lakeland Bikes in 2014.
The shop will be proving promising club members with equipment for the season and Potts has hailed the initiative which has allowed him develop.
“It’s brilliant for me getting selected for the program again this year because at the end of the day we wouldn’t be able to race at this level without the proper equipment, so it’s great to be part of a club that looks after us.”
“The guys at Lakeland are great and I’ve known them since I started cycling so I already have a good relationship with them. I think it’s safe to say this is going to be an epic year.”
Another rider who will benefit is Angus Fyffe who rode the Junior Tour of Ireland on the Ulster team and he was equally delighted to be selected for the programme.
“It’s fantastic to be chosen for the development program in 2014. Having the right equipment is crucial to competing at the highest level, and I am grateful for the support that Omagh Wheelers and Lakeland bikes will offer me.”
“It is good that people have confidence in me to win races and fulfil my potential, and this also brings lots of motivation during the current off season.”
Lakeland bikes will be providing the two riders – who are both U23s - with top of the range 2014 Cervelo bikes. Fyffe will be on the Cervelo S5 VWD with Potts on the Cervelo R5.
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