Irish An Post Duo Hoping To Conquer French Test

Irish An Post Duo Hoping To Conquer French Test

An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly Racing team will be in action over the coming days as they saddle up for the 57^th Tour du Loir et Cher E Provost (2.2) in France. The five stage race will commence tomorrow and conclude on Sunday, the 17^th of April.

Irish duo David Montgomery and Jack Wilson have been named as part of five man team and will line out alongside Belgian pair Nicolas Vereecken and Emiel Wastyn with Aussie rider Jordan Stannus (AUS) making up the final position.

Before signing with An Post at the beginning of the year, Montgomery was best known for his exploits off-road as a national cyclocross champion. An Post Directeur Sportif, Kurt Bogaerts says that the inclusion of the Banbridge man, is a testament to how hard he has worked and his appetite to learn has not gone unnoticed.

“David (Montgomery) is improving every day and it’s a delight to see. During our first training camp he was struggling with positioning in the groups but he has worked hard to rectify that. He is a brilliant climber and an extremely strong rider physically. He finished eighteenth in Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften (1.Ncup) in Flanders last week which is a race with a high reputation. It was the best result for any Irish rider that day, so that will do his confidence the world of good.”

The Irish-based team are in a confident mood after their most successful result of the year came last week in Circuit des Ardennes International (2.2). Nicolas Vereecken secured a stage two victory in a pulsating bunch sprint to the line and finished third overall in the general classification. Bogaerts is hoping that they can replicate the strong team performance that was on show;

“Nicolas (Vereecken) has been riding extremely well all year, securing a lot of top ten finishes. The way he has been performing every week, it was only a matter of time before he got off the mark and won a stage. It’s great motivation for the team seeing Nicolas win as they weren’t in the best position for large parts of the stage. But they managed to haul it back and thankfully, put Nicolas in a position to go for the win, which was really great to see.”

The team will be without Sean McKenna (IRL), Jacob Scott (GB) and Sean Bennett (USA) as the trio will be in action for their respective countries in ZLM-Roompot Tour in the Nations Cup which takes place in the Netherlands between the 15^th and 16^th of April. Connor McConvey (IRL), Damian Shaw (IRL), Calvin Watson (AUS) and Oliver Spark-Kent (AUS) are unavailable due to a bout of influenza which has recently struck the An Post camp.

Bogaerts concluded that he is delighted with how his team have progressed these past few weeks and highlights his goal for the upcoming race meeting;

“Our targets are the same as previous races and that is to put ourselves in the position for a stage win. We have five able-bodied guys to do that for us so I’m hoping with a bit of luck that we can do well. Some guys can win from breakaways, others like Nicolas, from sprints so we have plenty of opportunities. I’m really looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”

An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly Racing Team in action at the 57th Tour du Loir et Cher E Provost (2.2) in France, 13^th- April.

Jack Wilson (IRE)

David Montgomery (IRE)

Jordan Stannus (AUS)

Nicolas Vereecken (BEL)

Emiel Wastyn (BEL)

An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly Racing Team in action at the ZLM-Roompot Tour Nations Cup Meeting, 15^th-16^th April

Sean McKenna (Team Ireland)

Sean Bennett (Team USA)

Jacob Scott (Team GB)