Leo Doyle, the Irish rider who has raced abroad for much of recent seasons, has secured a place with an elite Austrian team next year. The 22-year-old, who has ridden for Ireland at U23 level, will combined his racing with his university studies in 2023.
Once his exams are out of the way he will then based himself in Europe full-time. He told stickybottle he was looking forward to the races his team had lined up for next year, including UCI-ranked elite stage races.
Doyle will be no stranger to his new team. ARBÖ headstart ON-Fahrrad, as he rode the Tour de Serbie in September as a guest with the squad; going on the attack and wearing the climbers' jersey for a couple of stages.
"After my good results in Belgium this year someone from the team reached out and asked me to ride with them in the Tour of Serbia," Doyle explained. "And then after my performance in Serbie, and the way I gelled with the team, they asked me to ride next year.
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"I am trying to get as much of the college workload done this semester so I can focus on cycling more next year," he said of completing his philosophy and social psychology degree in University College Dublin this year. "I'll be based in Calpe (Spain) for three months training from December to March."
Doyle is from Co Cavan and came up through the ranks as part of the DB Cycling Club, winning a race in Belgium in club colours back in 2018. In 2021 he was part of the Irish U23 team that raced in the Etoile d'Or UCI Nations Cup race in France. In recent years he has raced at home and in Europe for Dutch team TWC Tempo Veldhoven, now having moved to Austrian elite squad ARBÖ headstart ON-Fahrrad.
"The team will race 1-2 Slovakia Cup (UCI 1.2) in late March and then I'll be focusing on Rás Mumhan. In between Rás Mumhan and the Rás there will be a number of UCI 1.2 races in Italy which will be great preparation for the Rás. Right now it's to early to confirm if the team will enter the Ras, or if I'll be riding for an Irish club. But it's the main goal for in 2023.
"After the Ras, I'll probably be based in Vienna with the team, and that's when the stage races will really start. They may include Raiffeisen Oberösterreich Rundfahrt in Austria, Gemenc Grand Prix in Hungary and the Tour of Hungary. There is also Tour of Szeklerland in Romania and Tour de Serbie. All of those are UCI 2.2.
"And there will also be a number of UCI-ranked races in Italy and Austria and that should really suit my ability to sprint after hard climbing days. So I'm really looking forward to them. The majority of these races are medium mountain stage races."
