An Post Chain Reaction's Edmondson relishing Ardennes Test

An Post Chain Reaction’s Edmondson relishing Ardennes test

 

The An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly team will make the short trip through the Belgian border to Northern France this Friday (10^th April) to tackle the Circuit des Ardennes International (2.2).

 

Former Team Sky rider Josh Edmondson (GB) has been charged with leading a six man team that includes Irish duo Conor Dunne and Sean Downey, Lithuania’s Paulius Siskevicius and Belgian pair Xandro Meurisse and Jens Vandenbogaerde.

 

The rolling hills and ridges of the heavily forested Ardennes region will provide a significant change to the normally flat Flemish races the team are used to, something which manager Kurt Bogaert’s feels will suit Edmondson in particular;

 

“Josh will be the leader of the team and I think this race will suit him very well. Although he does not have much competition in the legs since his arrival last month, this will be another step in the right direction for him.

 

“We’ll always look to be aggressive and make our mark on every race. We’ll look for a stage win so we will have to dig deep and I know the team will do that so I’m looking forward to it.”

 

Elsewhere, a team of six Irish U-23 riders, including three from An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly team, have been selected for the Ronde Van Vlaanderen Beloften on Saturday 11^th April. 

 

Ryan Mullen will be supported by fellow Irish riders Eoin McCarthy and Jack Wilson for the first of the 2015 UCI Under 23 Nations’ Cup events, ridden by national rather than trade teams a week after the elite edition of the Flandrian race. The other Irish riders include Cormac Clarke, Thomas Fallon and David Montgomery.

 

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan Synergy Baku team have announced that they will return to the An Post Rás next month. The team boast an impressive record in the race winning two stages in three years and claiming two top five overall finishes.

 

The Baku outfit took stage wins in 2013 with the Russian Kirill Pozdnyakov plus the Kiwi Rico Rogers and in 2014 with Austrian rider Jan Sokol.

 

It also helped Irishman Connor McConvey to second overall two years ago and the German Christoph Schweizer to his fifth place finish in 2014.

 

According to the team manager, Irishman David McQuaid, the final line-up is yet to be decided and will be based in part on whether the young Azerbaijan riders the team has been set up to develop get the necessary visas.

 

“This season, with the route being a route to suit an aggressive rider as opposed to a specialist, we have a very good chance to give our young riders on the team the opportunity to race a good stage race that is well within their limits.

 

From our international riders that bring the experience to the fold, Eibegger had requested to come back but sadly is out until at least the start of July due to a bad fall in Tour de Taiwan.

 

Looking at the provisional squad to make the final cut of five starters, we have experienced internationals Matej Mugerli, Dennis van Winden and Ioannis Tamouridis available. How many of these guys start will depend on visas for our Azeri riders Elchin Asadov, Tural Isgandarov, Enver Asanov and Elgun Alizada.”

 

McQuaid said that Tamouridis has in particular showed good form this season, netting placings of second and third on stages in the Tour of Taiwan.

 

He added that the general classification is not initially a big target as he wants the team to help the developing riders to achieve strong results.

 

“We would be looking to race aggressively, taking each day as a new day and if by doing so one of our stronger guys gets close to general classification contention, then we will consider it then.

 

However the full goal is really mixing old and new on our team and giving the new guys the opportunity to race at a level where they can do more than simply follow wheels. It could be a great week for them.”

 

Some of the team’s riders will do the Tour de Bretagne in France as part of the build-up, and then go on to the Tour of Azerbaijan. The latter is one of the very top goals of the season and should put them in strong form. Other riders will be doing the Nations Cup under 23 World Cup races plus 1.2-ranked events in Italy.

 

The results of those various contests will be used in part to determine selection.

 

The team will join the recently-announced squads Hrinkow Advarics CYcleanG of Austria, Sweden’s Tre Berg – Bianchi, the Australian outfit Subaru Albion, British teams NFTO and JLT Condor plus the national squads of Canada and New Zealand in the line-up.

 

A number of other strong international outfits are yet to be announced.

 

The 2015 An Post Rás will begin in Dunboyne on May 17 and will feature stage finishes in Carlow, Tipperary, Bearna, Newport, Ballina, Ballinamore, Drogheda and Skerries.

 

It will total almost 1200 kilometres in length and will include 21 categorised climbs.

 

 

An Post Sean Kelly Chain Reaction Team for Circuit des Ardennes International (2.2), France, Friday 10^th April – Sunday 12^th April 2015

 

Sean Downey (IRL)

Conor Dunne (IRL)

Joshua Edmondson (GB)

Xandro Meurisse (BEL)

Paulius Siskevicius (LTU)

Jens Vandenbogaerde (BEL)

 

 

Under 23 Nations Cup – Team for Ronde Van Vlaanderen Beloften (Belgium), Saturday 11th April 2015

 

Ryan Mullen

Cormac Clarke

Jack Wilson

Eoin McCarthy

David Montgomery

Thomas Fallon