Going ProConti: Jonny McEvoy

Talking to Endura Racing’s Jonny McEvoy who has signed a two year contract for NetApp-Endura in 2013.

One of the riders helping Jon Tiernan-Locke win the Tour of Britain in 2012 was former Great Britain Academy rider and cyclo-crosser, Jonny McEvoy. Like JT, Jonny has been around the domestic British scene for a few years now since coming out of the academy set up and this year was riding for Endura Racing.

Winning DoonHame in 2012, a great start for his time with Endura Racing.

His season started well with a win at the Premier Calendar event the Tour DoonHame and then he was second on a stage of the Tour of Normandy. A top ten in the British Road Race Championships followed and in the fight for places within Endura Racing to race the Tour of Britain, Jonny was one of the riders selected.

It was quite a common sight in the race to see Jonny, more known previously for his wins in bunch kicks, to be sitting on the front and working to control the peloton at the Tour of Britain for his race leader, Jon Tiernan-Locke. It’s a sign that Jon is just as capable of playing a team roll as he is a leader’s roll when it comes to sprinting for a race victory.

Asked last week at the Cycle Show SuperCrit about getting a place in the German team, Jon replied “I’m made up to sign up for them. The opportunity for the races if you look at their race programme from this year will be brilliant. I know I’ll have to work hard to get in the team for them though.”

Jon says that riding on the front for riders who can win big races has been a good experience and to ride for someone who wins is fantastic. “The race programme with Endura Racing has been good all year and if you do the big races with the best riders you do improve. Next year will be a step up again but this year has definitely helped and I have been consistently good.”

Jon is a former Great Britain Cycling Team Academy rider who has watched some of his former teammates progress and while Jonny admits he’s made it to ProConti level a little slower, he’s made up to have finally got that opportunity.

Stage 8, Tour of Britain: Jonny McEvoy leads friend and teammate in 2012, Ian Bibby as they keep the tempo high to make sure the break up the road doesn’t get away from them.

Looking back at the Tour of Britain and the highlights for him, the one stage that stands out was stage 2 into the Knowsley Safari Park on Merseyside. “It was good to race on my home stage into Knowlsley with everyone I know there and also racing on the roads I’ve trained on. To race on them was brilliant and I was on them again last week and the name ‘Wiggo’ is still on the road. That was definitely one of the highlights”.

“The whole thing was brilliant and for JT to win overall that made it all the more worthwhile.”

Jon says he’s happy with his season and picking out the big results he says the win at DoonHame was great but the third place in the UCI 1.1 French Cup race, Tour de Finistre (UCI 1.1) was also a big result for him.

After the interview, Jon had two more races for Endura Racing and is now looking forward to a holiday before preparing for the 2013 season. Jon is one of eight riders from Endura Racing who will race for NetApp-Endura. The others are: Iker Camano, Zak Dempster, Russell Downing, Erick Rowsell, Scott Thwaites, Paul Voss and Alexander Wetterhall . Endura Racing will not have a team in 2013 as we understand.