"Last time I rode Tour de Langkawi, I'd a long day towing Cav up the hills; then he dropped me!"

Matt Brammeier in his new Synergy Baku national champion's kit getting ready for the off in the Tour de Langkawi

National road race champion, Matt Brammeier gets his season underway at the Tour de Langkawi which starts tomorrow, Thursday, and will be his first competitive outing for new team Synergy Baku.

Brammeier has said the set-up in the Azerbaijani-backed Irish-led squad will see him get his chance to go for personal goals once he has the form in the UCI rated 2.HC 10-day race.

“We have a strong team going into the race, but no clear leader,” he said.

“I think each one of us will be going in with the aim of being active every stage and taking our chances when they come.”

With Langkawi his first race of the year, Brammeier said it would offer a strong indication of his form.

“The first race is always difficult to predict how results and condition will be, but I want to be competitive and try to win a stage.”

“At the end of the first week we will have a tough block of three days, all over 200kms. These days could be suited to breakaways. I'll be trying extra hard these days to make something happen for myself.”

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The 28-year-old has slotted into a set up with a heavy Irish influence, having signed in the off season from the now defunct Champion System Pro Continental squad.

His new team mates include Belfast’s Connor McConvey who is riding his second campaign with the squad, and Dubliner Philip Lavery who, like Brammeier, is new to the team.

The squad boasts David McQuaid as general manager and three time Irish Olympian David McCann as a sporting director.

Brammeier has split his winter training between the United Kingdom, Belgium and Girona in Spain and is pleased with how the racing break has gone.

“I've been training pretty well, no major sickness or injury for the first time in a while, touch wood. So I'm feeling good and really happy with the work I've put in so far.”

“Actually just yesterday for the first time I had the feeling that I'm ready to go. The legs felt good and the numbers were good, so I'm looking forward to finishing hurting myself in training and pinning some numbers on.”

It will be Brammeier's second appearance in the Malaysian race, having ridden it in 2006; a time when he was more focussed on the track than road racing.

“The lasting memory I have is of Cameron Highlands. I was called back to wait for Mark Cavendish to make sure he made the time cut. It was a long day in the wind and Cav dropped me with 1km to go and I almost didn't make the cut,” he laughed.