James Curry has been junior champion in cyclocross and MTB racing but is also one of our best young road riders with a rare ability to fly up climbs on his day. He's bound for France and could do some very serious damage if he switches his focus to the road (Photo: Jim Halferty)
By Brian Canty
Two of Ireland’s brightest young talents are set to race abroad next year; James Curry and Jake Gray both agreeing terms with amateur squads in France.
National junior road race champion Gray will join VC Toucy, the same team Mark Downey rode for this year.
And Curry is going to AC Bisontine, a team based 250 kilometres north east of Lyon.
VC Toucy is a very good DN2 team and often gets invites to some of the bigger, more prestigious races in France - one of which Downey won this year.
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As he’ll be a first-year espoir there’ll be no pressure or expectation on Gray but rather an emphasis on his development as a rider.
He’ll be joined in the team by Charlie Meredith, the young British rider who won the Scott Junior Tour of Ireland in July and claimed a number of excellent results in the junior ranks as well this year.
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National junior road race champion Jake Gray will race in France next year after he agreed to join up with VC Toucy, a top amateur team based in the town of Toucy 160 kilometres south east of Paris.
Meanwhile, Curry (Banbridge CC) has struck himself a similarly good deal with AC Bisontine.
The team counts French superstar Thibaut Pinot among their alumni while current Irish U23 international Matt Teggart has ridden for the outfit in recent years.
Curry is a former junior cyclocross and MTB champion while he’s also done very well on the road, winning the final stage and the overall at Rás Dun na nGall this year.
He was later selected to ride on the Cycling Ulster team for the UCI-ranked Beaumont Trophy this year and rode very well in service of Chris McGlinchey (Chain Reaction Cycles).
He is one of the best young climbers in the Irish bunch and it should be extremely interesting to see what he can do if he sets his entire focus on the road in 2017.
He rode the MTB World Championships for Ireland at the start of the year but is a fantastic climber on the road who can still perform very strongly in criteriums.
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