Philip Lavery is making a return to international racing with a move to France after a break from the sport.
One of the most aggressive and strongest riders the country has produced in recent years, Philip Lavery is to return to international racing.
The Dubliner, who had a fantastic season in France in 2013 and rode for the Cofidis pro outfit for a period at the end of that season, is going back to his former team AC Bisontine.
The team has announced news of the 25-year-old's transfer on its website.
After racing with the French squad, and winning some very big races before progressing to Cofidis, he had decided to take a period out of high-level racing, only to return almost immediately.
He went on to ride for the first half of last year with the Continental-level Synergy Baku squad of David McQuaid.
Advertisement
But since then he has limited his racing to a couple of domestic events at home.
News that he is back in the game will be welcomed by many who felt the absence of such a strong and always entertaining rider from the peloton was a loss.
Lavery is a former U23 national road race champion, scooping that title in Clonmel in 2012 when he was 3rd in the elite event behind Matt Brammeier and Nicolas Roche.
He was a regular in the green of Ireland, riding the U23 Nations Cup series as well as representing his country at European and World Championship level.
He has ridden for An Post-Chainreaction in the past and UK Continental-level team NODE 4-Giordana.
Related News
In 2013 he was a silver medallist in the elite race at the National Road Race Championships in Carlingford, Co Louth.
Two weeks after that he won the Prix de la Chapelle-lès-Luxeuil, a 121km race in the Haute-Saône department of eastern France.
Earlier in 2013 he had taken victory in the Prix des Vallons in Schweighouse-sur-Moder.
The race was the third of six rounds of the DN2 Coupe de France after opening his 2013 account with a win in the Tour du Charolais.
He also won the Souvenir Jean Lacroix and the opening stage of the Tour de Franche Comté in eastern France, where he took the yellow jersey only to abandon and a DN2 Coupe de France win the following day.
Lavery was very unluckily not to secure a place with Cofidis, with the transfer market full of out-of-contract older established pros after the collapse of some teams at the end of 2013.
Lavery in the colours of the Cofidis pro team for whom he rode on a trial basis (Photo: Lydia Van Der Meerssche)
Topics
