Damien Shaw has spent far more time training than racing this year but he gets his chance to shine next week in the Tour of Britain after being named in the An Post Chain Reaction team. It will be a huge challenge for the Mullingar man given he is so under-raced but he has been known to pull out some huge performances when it matters most.
By Brian Canty
Damien Shaw has been given the nod to race the Tour of Britain next week after being included in the An Post ChainReaction squad for the 2.HC-ranked race which gets underway on Sunday.
It will be the biggest race the 2015 national road race champion has done so far in his career and marks a significant milestone in his development.
The Mullingar man hasn’t raced much for the team this year and of the three races he did in August he was listed as a DNF in two, most recently the 1.1-ranked Schaal Sels on Sunday.
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A day prior to that he was 92nd in a 1.2 race some minute and a half behind the winner in a race where over 50 abandoned.
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It should be a significant test for him and will really show how far he has come since joining them at the start of the year.
The An Post Rás and the national championships were where he showed his best form but next week could be when he really imposes himself in the bigger UCI races.
The team have traditionally performed well in Britain and as well as packing the breakaways they always challenge for stage wins and jerseys.
In 2013 they took a stage win and two top 10s through Sam Bennett while two years prior to that they took another stage win through Gediminas Bagdonas.
Last year, Conor Dunne was fifth in the KOM jersey classification while Xandro Meurisse was 10th on GC.
Shaw is the sole Irishman in the team which should be confirmed tomorrow but one man who won't be there is Connor McConvey who broke his wrist in the Arnhem-Veenendal Classic in the Netherlands two weeks ago.
Also missing out is Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data). He will instead race the GP Quebec (September 9th) and GP Montreal two days later.
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