Sean Kelly has said while he would like his team An Post-Chainreaction to progress from Continental level up a tier to ProContinental, he would be just as happy to maintain the status quo
By Brian Canty
Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly has admitted he is happy for his An Post-Chainreaction team to remain a UCI Continental level team and to continue to feed the bigger World Tour teams with promising young talent. But he didn't rule out the possibility of moving up a level to Pro Continental.
The team has carved out a reputation on the Continent as one of the best run and most organised - despite operating on a much smaller budget compared to some other teams in the third tier. They've also managed to punch above their weight over the years, notching some top results.
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Riders like Andy Fenn, Matt Brammeier, Gediminas Bagdonas and Roy Jans have all excelled in the past at the team and gone on to secure ProTour or Pro Continental contracts. But Kelly said it all comes down to money - something that is in short supply right now.
"You always want to go to another level," he admitted.
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"We’ve had contact in the last two years (with potential sponsors) and they are sponsors who are not part of the team at all at present. They have been involved in cycling in the past and some are involved in cycling at this moment. I think they have seen the team and the structure of the team and they see it as a serious setup.”
“They were not able to put in a budget on their own, however, and needed someone else to come with a budget. To go to a Pro Continental level, under budget, I don’t want to do that because you’re in the races and winning nothing. You’re just there and fighting to finish races.”
"There are teams at ProContinental who survive on €1million, but they’re doing races that aren’t that much better than what we’re doing. Although, as a Pro Continental team you get invited to races a lot easier because you’re at that level. But organisers have seen that we’re a serious team and we get invited back to races. So fingers crossed, maybe this year we will get sponsors interested to come on board and that we can pull the sponsors together.”
"But I’d be happy to stay where I am, I certainly wouldn’t lose any sleep. Kurt (Bogaerts, team manager) on the other hand, when you talk to him, would love to go on to another level. It's his dream to go up a level."
With next year's Giro d'Italia set to start in Ireland, and organisers having said they'd favour teams to race in the event with an Irish connection, it's not impossible that should the team somehow gather the funds to go up a level, they'd secure an entry. But that thought doesn't even concern Kelly.
"No that isn't a factor, the Giro. For starters, we operate on a budget of around half a million euro and to go to the Giro would cost us an awful lot and eat into our budget. There are so many other races for us to consider. It would be great obviously but there's a lot to consider before that."
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