Thomas Fallon is a rider with plenty to offer and with a couple of more years as an U23 he has a lot of developing still to do. It'll be really interesting to see how he fares with ASEA-Wheelworx , a squad that looks as good as any we can recall on the domestic front for quite a while. (Photo thanks to Martine Verfailie)
By Brian Canty
ASEA-Wheelworx is adding some considerable power to its line-up for next season with the news that four very promising young riders and one of Ireland's top women will join the squad.
Conor McCann, Thomas Fallon, Declan Mulholland and Stephen Shanahan will boost an already formidable team in what is developing into something of an arms race in the domestic peloton.
And the team has also brought in one of the strongest elite women in the country in the shape of Eve McCrystal, who arrives from Garda CC.
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Last week we brought you news that Aquablue were strengthening for 2016 with the addition of a number of U23 riders and ASEA-Wheelworx have responded in kind.
Thomas Fallon is a former Irish junior road international with plenty of experience of both the road and the track.
He was a member of the elite track squad last winter but has decided to return to college this year.
However, he’s won a number of races as a junior as well as helping secure Eddie Dunbar’s maiden Junior Tour of Ireland win in 2013.
Based in Galway, Fallon will look to race whenever he can and boost an already thriving racing scene in the west
Stephen Shanahan rode as a guest for Team ASEA at the Suir Valley Three-Day for the squad back in August but now joins on a permanent basis for next year. (Photo thanks to DC Images)
A man who played an integral role in helping Dunbar win back-to-back Junior Tour titles in 2014 was former Limerick CC man Stephen Shanahan and he also joins the team.
Another former junior international, Shanahan guest rode for Team ASEA - which has been rebranded ASEA-Wheelworx after the addition of a co-sponsor - at the Suir Valley Three-Day this year so he knows what kind of a set-up he’s going into.
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And in Declan Mulholland the team is signing a very strong emerging young rider who has already won plenty of races at home and been a youth and junior international on road and track.
Similarly, Conor McCann is also tipped for great things in the future and has bagged some wins also. He will be looking for more success in the junior bunch next year.
He unfortunately missed a huge chunk of his first season as a junior in 2015 after being involved in a bad car crash on the way to a race in the UK.
Eve McCrystal is the most established of the five new ASEA-Wheelworx signings.
However, while she has ridden for the Irish team in Rás na mBan and developed as a formidable road competitor in recent years, her priority for 2016 will be role as sighted pilot to Katie George Dunlevy for the Paralympics.
Eve McCrystal is the most established name signed by ASEA-Wheelworx but will focus on the Paralympics rather than the home scene next year (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho)
They took silver in the road race at the Paracycling World Road Championships in the US last year.
This year they won a bronze at the UCI Paracycling World Track Championships in the Netherlands and are real medal contenders for Rio.
Bryan McCrystal, one of ASEA-Wheelworx 's senior riders, said they'll be looking to put an emphasis on developing this trio in the coming year while racing abroad is something they're also exploring.
“We're not even up and running a year yet but 2015 couldn't have went much better, so for this reason we want to capitalise on that and that's why we brought in the three lads.
“They're good lads and really want to develop so we'll be emphasizing that next year.
“We also plan to get away again to race somewhere on the continent so they'll be key to those plans as well.
"They're all very young still and are mad to race so we'll do what we can to facilitate them in that regard,” added the Dundalk man.
