Ryan Sherlock has parted ways with UCI Continental ranked team Polygon Sweet Nice and is seen here racing in Belgium during the past week in the colours of west Flanders outfit Tomac CC.
By Brian Canty
Irish rider Ryan Sherlock has left the Polygon Sweet Nice Team and is on the lookout for a new squad for next season.
The Monaghan man has been in Belgium racing and training for the last month and will return home next week. He is unsure about where he will be for the 2014 season.
Sherlock had some disagreements with the Irish-registered Asian-based Continental team he has been a part of all year and left on his own terms. Though he didn’t specify why he left, he said he has no regrets.
“I will not be with them next year, I can state that quite categorically. I left them about a month ago to race the amateur races here in Belgium. You can’t race them if you are registered with a Continental team other than Belgium. It just wasn’t really working out. They had an extraordinarily tight budget,” he said.
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“It possibly could have been a bit different. If you’re winning from the start then that’s great but if you’re not winning, then it’s not so straight forward. It wasn’t a nice atmosphere to be in."
Sherlock has been one of the best riders in the country for the past number of seasons and did an enormous amount of work to make the team happen in the first place, so it will come as a blow to him to have to leave.
Of Belgium, he said that is where he needs to be if he is to move up in the sport.
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“I don’t know where I will be next year,” he admitted.
“I’m stronger than I was before, I’m racing better than I was before and I want to race more next year and race big races. That’s what I’m hoping for. It’s kind of the reasons why I’m over here as well."
"I finished second in a kermesse two or three days ago and they actually matter, they matters more than the results in the Asian races do,” he added.
Sherlock is based in west Flanders with the Tomac CC team, a squad made up of English speaking riders from the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Fellow Irishman Javan Nulty also spent time with them this summer.
“I went into this season with great form, some of my best form and I was racing well in Taiwan and the Philippines. But from then I went downhill until I got back to Europe (before the Rás)."
"I rode a pretty good Nationals, then did some stage races in Ireland and got some good form and right now I’m in good form too but it was that chunk in the middle of the summer where my form dropped. It was like being starting back winter training again."
As regards looking for teams, he could only relieve a frustrated laugh.
“It’s always the same looking for teams, stressful. For me, I am very motivated because I’m continually improving. Putting full time effort into racing an Irish domestic season doesn’t really do that much for me now. I did that last year and I want to push up a level."
“I do look back on last year (2012) with regrets because if I had more confidence in myself racing the Rás I think I could have done something. I only realised after that I had the physical qualities, I just didn’t have enough confidence."
"But racing in Belgium, I got that confidence because I could see the guys were really good and I was competing with them. Here, there are races on every day but I’ve limited myself to between three and five (per week), depending on how I feel. We’ll see what happens in the next few months.”
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