Philip Lavery is back in the hunt after securing a late ride for 2014 with Synergy Baku after one of its riders Will Clarke was forced to retire on health grounds.
By Gerard Cromwell
Dubliner Philip Lavery has joined the Synergy Baku team for the 2014 season, it was announced today.
Having failed to earn a professional contract at the end of last season, despite a strong year in France as an amateur and a stint as a stagiare with French pro team Cofidis, 23-year-old Lavery sold his bike in winter and took up a job with the new Smartlamp company in Donabate this year.
Original plans to ride some domestic races with the new Smartlamp team, however, were shelved this week when the offer of a place on the Baku squad came about after their Australian rider Will Walker was forced to retire from the sport due to heart problems.
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Lavery has previous Continental team experience with An Post and Node4 Giordana and finished second in the national road race championships behind Matt Brammeier last year.
"Philip is an incredibly gifted rider,” said Baku team manager David McQuaid.
“The fact that he is Irish has nothing to do with it. But it does mean that I have seen him in the past put in some pretty incredible rides at the Rás or the Nationals.
“It was sad for him to see his stagiaire placement didn't work out in France last year. He had a great season and it was a shame it ended in that way. During these recent weeks I spoke to our DS, David McCann and he was all for the idea of filling that place with Philip."
Lavery will now ride alongside compatriots Conor McConvey and Brammeier in the Azerbaijan registered team.
Although he hasn’t trained much over the winter, Lavery will make his debut for Baku on February 23rd at the GP Izola in Slovenia and hopes to make the team for the An Post Rás in May.
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“I'm very grateful to the Baku team and staff for the opportunity to continue my career in a winter that has been very difficult to secure a contract,” Lavery said today.
“For the Azeri riders, I am just 23 years old but I have been a professional for 4 years, so I feel that I bring a lot of experience to the team. I haven’t trained much so it will take a while to get back up to speed but this is a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike with Baku now.”
Lavery has had a number of teams in his quest to secure a pro contract in recent years, riding for the Look Academy four years ago for a season, then spending one season with An Post-Sean Kelly before going for one year to Node4-Giordana, with whom he won the U23 national road race crown.
Last year he raced in France as an amateur with the AC Bisontine team and having won a number of races with them he secured a trial at the end of the year with French Pro Continental outfit Cofidis.
But with a number of teams collapsing last year and some very good riders with UCI ranking points on the market, that trial came to nothing and he had decided to give up on his hope of getting a pro contract.
Many had tipped him to make the move back to Continental level or possibly Pro Continental like his fellow Irish international team mate Sam Bennett has done with NetApp-Endura this year.
However, securing a ride with Synergy Baku means he is back in that hunt again despite being disadvantaged by the rider market in the off season.
And with that team set to race a long programme until November, his lighter training schedule in recent months need not prove too damaging to his hopes in the long season ahead.
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