Zaidan in action in France this year; he’s found a place with UC Aubenas for 2013
Dubliner Darragh Zaidan is to ride as a 1st cat in France next year having secured a place with a new team.
Now a member of the Adamstown club on the home scene, the former Junior Tour stage winner and junior international has just come to the end of his first year in France, where he rode with VCC Morteau based near Besançon, not far from the Swiss border.
The 19-year-old said while the initial step to the French scene was challenging, he gained in confidence and strength as the year went on and is looking forward to taking it up a level again next year.
He has secured a berth with UC Aubenas based in the southern part of the Ardeche department in the Rhone Valley in southern France.
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“The team are DN3 ranked which means I will hopefully get to ride in Coupe de France races and I’ll be racing as a 1st cat rider upgrading from cat 2 this year,” he said.
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“I’m really looking forward to stepping up and next season I’ll be going over to use the experiences of this year to obtain good results.”
He said that overall he was happy with how 2012 had gone.
“I went over with the intention of using the year to gain experience, sort of like a transition year. And if the results came, well and good. But if none came it wasn't the end of the world. Of course, I wanted results but I knew I had my work cut out.”
“The season was okay. The racing was tough and sometimes unbearable but it’s those kickings that help to shape you as a bike rider. I picked up a lot of consistent top 10s and a few 4th places, the podium and that 1st win that I so desperately wanted just never came. It was a year full of ups and downs but in general I am happy with how it all went.”
Zaidan is currently home in Dublin where he plans to work and train for the winter before setting off for France again early next year.
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