Aqua Blue Sport 2018 rider roster and first races confirmed

Aqua Blue Sport has confirmed its final, 16-strong rider roster for 2018 and for the second successive year will kick off its racing season in Australia and the Middle East.

As previously announced, three new signings join the squad this year: Irishman Eddie Dunbar (2017 winner of the U23 Tour of Flanders); Dane Casper Pedersen (current U23 European Road Champion) and New Zealander Shane Archbold.

New signings (l-r) Eddie Dunbar, Casper Pedersen and Shane Archbold. Picture: Karen M. Edwards..

The three join Larry Warbasse, current US national road champion and 2017 Tour de Suisse stage winner; Austrian Stefan Denifl, Vuelta a España 2017 stage winner, former British national road race champion Adam Blythe and five-time former Irish national champion Matt Brammeier.

Aaron Gate (NZ), Andrew Fenn (UK), Calvin Watson (AUS), Conor Dunne (IRL), Dan Pearson (UK), Michel Kreder (NL), Lasse Norman Hansen (DK), Mark Christian (UK) and Peter Koning (NL) complete the 16-strong Aqua Blue Sport team that will continue to compete at the highest level of professional cycling.

The team with owner Rick Delaney, coaching and high performance staff. Picture: Karen M. Edwards.

Behind the scenes, Dane Nicki Sørensen will continue in the role of key Directeur Sportif while the team welcomes the experience of Belgian Bob de Cnodder as a new member of the performance team. Former rider Martyn Irvine will also join the backroom staff as a Director Sportif with Aqua Blue Sport in 2018. Stephen Barrett stays on as Head of Performance, optimising rider development and training with the added support of Kevin Poulton, who comes on board as Performance Director. Stephen Moore will continue to spearhead the Aqua Blue Sport team as General Manager.

For the second year in a row Aqua Blue Sport will make its official racing debut in Australia, specifically in the Towards Zero Race Melbourne criterium (January 25th) and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (January 28th), followed by the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (January 31st-February 4th). The Irish squad will then tackle the challenges of desert racing with the Dubai Tour (February 6th-10th) and Tour of Oman (February 13th-18th).

“Aqua Blue Sport is excited to return to Australia to make its 2018 racing debut, a country that celebrates cycling with great passion and a new market for our e-Commerce site this year with key Australian retailers coming on board. We are ready to embrace the challenge of our second season with a talented group of 16 riders who share our values and ambition to be competitive at the elite level of road racing. We hold fast in our vision to push the boundaries of professional cycling and look forward to build on an incredibly successful maiden season,” said Stephen Moore, General Manager at Aqua Blue Sport.