Craig McAuley will race in Brittany next year after it was confirmed he will join French amateur team Cotes d’Armour Marie Morin in February.
By Brian Canty
Craig McAuley will ride for French amateur team Cotes d’Armour Marie Morin next season.
The 19 year-old from Derry will link up with them in February and will race for the Brittany-based team for most of the season, coming home only for the big races such as the national championships.
The team he will join are a DN2 outfit hoping to move up to DN1 in 2017 and with that in mind, McAuley is hoping that by getting in now he can perhaps be kept onboard, unless another team comes calling for him.
“I’ll be doing some of the hillier French national races so it will be a good step up for me,” he said.
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“I’ll join them in February and start racing straight away.
“Thankfully I can speak a bit of French so the transition from here to there might not be so bad.
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“I learnt it for years in school and I can get by okay so I’m looking forward to it,” he added.
McAuley sat his final year exams this year and has decided to forego college for the time being.
“I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do after school so I thought it would be better to take some time out and decide what that is and ride the bike until then,” he explained of his decision not to continue education for the time being.
“Then when I do go I won't be wasting my time doing a degree I won't use.”
He’s a very solid climber and last year, in his final year as a junior, he won the KOM jersey at the Junior Tour of Ireland.
This year, his commitment to school stood in the way of much of his racing but he still managed some good results, like three top 10s in the Tour of the North, third in the Red Hand Trophy and the silver medal in the Ulster championships.
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