David McQuaid says a key reason behind the funding for his team is to get riders from Azerbaijan to the Olympics, for which they need to score world ranking points in races like the An Post Rás.
By Shane Stokes
Synergy Baku general manager, David McQuaid has said there are no guarantees the team’s three Irish riders will be part of the five-man squad for the An Post Rás, making clear that places will have to be fully earned for the UCI 2.2 ranked race.
Last year’s runner-up Connor McConvey, reigning Irish road race champion Matt Brammeier and the rider who finished second to him in the 2013 championships, Philip Lavery all seem like natural selections given the race’s importance for Irish competitors.
But McQuaid has said that the team’s overall goal of developing riders from Azerbaijan can’t be forgotten.
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"The An Post Rás this year gives Synergy Baku the chance to race our Irish riders on home soil, including the elite national champion - which I think is the first time since 2008,” he said.
“But it also allows us to fulfil some secondary motives; racing our leading Azeri riders with a view to scoring UCI points, not just in 2014 but with an eye on 2015.
“That is Olympic qualification year so having these guys race on Irish roads in 2014 is a huge asset to them come 12 months time. The sad thing is either one Irish or one Azeri is going to lose out, due to the Rás having five-man teams.”
The Synergy Baku squad is registered in Azerbaijan and backed by sponsors from that country.
A total of three Azeri riders are on the long list of nine which McQuaid confirmed last week. These are national time trial champion Elchin Asadov, national road race champion Samir Jabrayilov and Tural Isganadarov.
In addition to those plus the Irish trio, the Ukrainian Maksym Averin, the Austrian Markus Eibegger and the German Christoph Schweizer are also being considered.
The decision on which riders will be selected will be made closer to the event, and will be judged in part on how the riders perform in the races leading up to the Rás.
Brammeier is currently riding the Tour de Bretagne, while the remainder of the team will compete in either the Tour of Montenegro or the Paths of King Nikola event.
A contingent will then head to the Tour of Azerbaijan, a major target for McQuaid and the team. That will be followed by the An Post Rás.
National champion Matt Brammeier has already won the climbers' classification in the Tour de Langkawi this season and would be a great addition to the Rás.
McQuaid made clear that it is still too soon to predict who will make the Rás selection. “Dealing with a squad of seventeen riders as we do at Baku, it is not so easy to pinpoint a team so far out. But the blue print for the Rás is a team made up of Irish and Azeri riders.
“The latter obviously is dependent on visas because Ireland falls outside the Schengen area; in early May there is a ten day window we need to deposit the documents at the Irish embassy in St Petersburg.”
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He said while some might question why the team’s three Irish riders would not automatically gain selection for the An Post Rás, this country’s biggest stage race; his team has a responsibility to field line-ups that best represent the team’s long term goals.
“It works both ways,” McQuaid explained.
“Prior to the An Post Rás we have the 2.1 ranked Tour d'Azerbaijan, and just two Azeri riders will start as part of the six-man team there. To quote 'horses for courses’ - sometimes in a season-long calendar with goals and sponsor obligations, it can boil just down to that.”
He added that as the An Post Rás is an eight day event, many UCI points are available over the course of the race. As a result the team has to think very carefully about selection.
Synergy Baku clocked up two stage wins last year; Kirill Pozdnyakov nabbed stage four into Glengarrif while Rico Rogers took stage six into Carlow.
Both riders are with different teams this year, but the squad is returning with some very strong alternatives and big ambitions.
“The team goals would obviously be, as always, to have a shot at the overall, most likely with Connor if he hones his form. But looking at the squad we are putting forward, stage wins are more likely.”
It was unclear if McQuaid titled towards stage wins seeking to dispel some pressure, or if he genuinely feels the general classification is a difficult target.
“We have a very explosive sprinter in Averin, our only winner to date in the 2014 season, and then we have the breakaway men,” he said.
“Elchin Asadov is literally ‘Mr Breakaway’. He sniffs out a move that sticks daily, doing that at the Sun Tour and Langkawi.
“The breakaway merchants would be Elchin, Matt and Tural. We think the Azeri's can collect some points here because of the unusual nature of the race.
“On the off-chance that one of the team takes the yellow jersey, we have a very good diesel engine in Matt and Elchin to ride on the front.”
The Synergy Baku line-up will be directed by Arvis Piziks, who finished second to-then USSR team-mate Dainis Ozoles in the 1989 Rás.
McQuaid is hoping that his career experience plus the riders’ good race programme leaving up to the event will see a very impressive performance in just over three weeks time.
He's also hoping that McConvey will be able to bounce back in the meantime after his build-up was disrupted by recent illness.
Philip Lavery and Connor McConvey – both Irishmen riding for Synergy Baku – in recent action in South Africa. Both are the kind of riders that can make a big impression on the Rás in terms of stage wins and the overall.
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