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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
AN POST SEAN KELLY TEAM RE-SIGNS EECKHOUT, CASSIDY, BAGDONAS AND GHYLLEBERT
By Shane Stokes
7 Dec 2011,
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One team’s loss is another’s gain: An Post Rás winner Gediminas Bagdonas will remain with the An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team in 2012 after the Geox-TMC team he was due to move to unravelled after the departure of the main sponsor.
Bagdonas, who won two stages plus the overall in the An Post Rás in May, took a stage of the Tour of Britain in September and also picked up the Lithuanian time trial championships plus a stage and the overall victory in the Ronde de l’Oise, is one of four signings announced today.
Also returning to the team is Irishman Mark Cassidy, former Belgian champion Niko Eeckhout and his compatriot, Peter Ghyllebert.
They are the latest riders to be confirmed for 2012, joining a lineup which includes the previously-announced Irish talents Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin, Sean Downey and Connor McConvey plus the Britons Mark McNally and Jonny Bellis.
The team looks set for its strongest season yet in 2012. General manager Kurt Bogaerts said today that he was delighted with the latest signings.
“We are really happy to have resigned these guys as their experience and understanding will be really important for us as we have a very young team next year,” he said.
“Bagdonas had a great year winning the An Post Ras and also a stage at the Tour of Britain, so he is a top rider and crucial to the team.
“Niko is also a huge name and he has been excellent for us over the past three years and we feel he can continue to win races for us. Cassidy and Ghyllebert have also been competing at this level for a number of years now and they can help to bring on these younger riders. “
The strong lineup should see the team secure invites to many top races. Bogaerts told Irishcycling.com last week that he is awaiting confirmation from Tour de France organisers ASO if it will secure repeat invites to the Tours of Qatar and Oman. The team debuted there last year and was a very important part of animating the race, its riders performing aggressively throughout the two early-season events.
The riders will get together for the first time on Monday when they begin a training camp in Calpe, Spain. They will know that the lineup plus the progress made last year by many riders means that the squad looks set for a very good year; unsurprisingly, Bogaerts is excited about what they could do.
“We are really looking forward to the new season now,” he said. “We have a very strong team and are confident that we can progress another step again next year. We have a lot of hard work and training to do in advance to prepare, but the mood and the attitude in the team is very good.”
He told Irishcycling.com recently that the team would consider becoming a Pro Continental team if the budget became available. He stressed that the team would also like to retain a Continental-level squad, enabling it to continue supporting developing riders from Ireland and elsewhere.
The strong lineup for 2012 makes it more likely that the team can secure the sort of results which would make that sponsor search a more straightforward one.
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