Having been one of the best juniors in the country in 2019, when he was Irish TT champion, Kevin McCambridge took the U23 TT silver medal at the nationals during the 2020 Covid19-hit season and was 5th in the combined U23-elite road race. Having just turned 19 years last October, he is now on his way to France to take his next steps in the sport. He will ride for AVC AIX en Provence but will live with Team Delko and has a three-week camp with the French ProContinental team just about to start.
By Kevin McCambridge
The big day has arrived. I’m moving to France. I'm sat here on a flight to Barcelona writing this. I had an early start, leaving the house at 3:30am to make it to Dublin Airport for my 8am flight.
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I’ll fly into Barcelona and then get a
changeover which will take me into Marseille. It will be a long day of
travelling but it has to happen.
I’m going to France to 'start' my
cycling career. I think it’s a great opportunity for me as the hillier terrain
should suit me.
It’ll give me the chance to make it as a professional cyclist, which I hope for some day. France is also a beautiful place, especially Marseille where I will be based with the team.
I love Northern Ireland, especially the
glens of Antrim. Nobody understands how lucky you are to live there. It’s also
great for cycling.
You have the mountains for the hard
yards and then the coast if you fancy a flat day. The weather isn't always in
your favour but it makes the good days seem better I think.
In Marseille I’ll have the weather in
my favour but I hope I don’t turn soft! I already have friends telling me to
stay the same as they know me as a “hardy bastard”.
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Am I going to miss home? Yes, of course I will. Saying goodbye to my family and friends was
hard for sure. And it’s going to be hard at the start but I will get used to
it.
FaceTime will be my most used app. And it will be a job trying to tell granny ‘you can take the phone away from your ear’. And my mum and the rest if my family will never be too far from my mind.
I’ll be riding for AVC AIX en Provence, which is a team based is AIX en Provence. But I’ll be living with Team DELKO.
I have my first team camp from
tomorrow, January 8th. It’s a three-week training camp with Delko to see where
my legs are at before I begin my season.
I'm nervous – mostly about being away
from home in a country with a foreign language. I have lived in Sierra Nevada
for five months, but that was with three of my good friends who speak English.
Well, Adam (Ward) spoke ‘Omagh’, which
is a different language again. But they were the best five months of my life.
I hope I can learn the language (French,
not Omagh) pretty well in the year ahead; enough to get me around anyway.
But, for sure, I’m excited for what's
to come this year, with some of the biggest races on the calendar. Tour de l’Avenir
is a big goal on my mind; a race I dream to win.
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