Team News: Team Bioracer-DHL-FR Services

New Irish Under 23 development ‘Team Bioracer-DHL-FR Services’ set to challenge the British based teams in the season’s major road race events

Team News: Team Bioracer-DHL-FR Services

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A new Irish Under 23 development ‘Team Bioracer-DHL-FR Services’ set to challenge the British based teams in the season’s major road race events.

A new Irish Under 23 team made up of international riders including a number of Irish national champions, is planning a full season on the road including the British Elite men’s road race series. Being a new team, they are keen to make a positive impression on all the races they enter and are being well guided by former riders who have been there and done the business in cycling.

The team’s general manager is a former Under 23 himself, Tim Cassidy, who had the world at his feet at one point but injury brought his cycling career to a halt and now he’s investing his time into helping others from his native Ireland to fulfil their potential.

Tim explained “I stepped away from cycling after suffering a bad injury and being forced to leave the sport at a very young age of 22. I spent three years with La Pomme Marseille (A team which Dan Martin rode for too) at a time when the team was one of the strongest Under 23 teams in Europe. I missed out on a stagier opportunity in 2005 due to injury. Unfortunately, I carried this injury to the Sean Kelly Continental team in 2006 where I eventually had to call it a day in the middle of the season in 2007 due to chronic tendinitis for 2 years”.

“I began working with some Under 23 riders in 2016 alongside two other colleagues, Derek Stenson and Liam Cullen and our team has now grown into a full Under 23 team for 2019. I was very fortunate to have come through teams that had the best people around you and world class teammates who have gone on to have amazing careers in the sport and felt it was wasted if I didn’t pass my experience on to riders who will most likely have to take a much harder route to European racing”.

That pathway will include racing in Britain as Tim explained. “After the 2018 season, our team had established itself as one of the top two teams in the country (Ireland) and we felt it was time to strengthen it further and make an attempt at targeting the British National Road Series”.

“I have worked very close both coaching/managing some of Ireland’s upcoming riders and with the current situation in cycling, it seems securing places in good international teams is proving more difficult for Irish Under 23 riders where you find one or two riders land a place in Europe but the rest are left at home in a racing scene hidden from the top echelons of cycling. Before these guys know it, their Under 23 days are over and that opportunity has gone by before them”.

“The British cycling scene has grown so much over the past 15 years, that it offers an opportunity for us to provide a race calendar from a base at home in Ireland where our riders can race a World Class field that will both give them an opportunity to get noticed and also bring them up another level by racing faster, longer and in more competitive races.”

“We will have a huge focus on developing the riders training, nutrition and social skills so that when they do make the jump to Europe, they have all the knowledge and skills to look after themselves in a very tough environment. This is where I have asked my good friend and past teammate, Stephen Gallagher to come on board where he brings a wealth of experience from a long successful career having raced all over Europe and Asia in the amateur and professional ranks.”
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“He has also gone on to have a very successful coaching career with his company DigDeep Coaching and reinforces our ethos behind development. We have worked hard this winter and through many of Stephen’s contacts, have created a network of people willing to help and support this group of riders both at home and in the UK.”

The Sponsors
To create a strong team you need strong sponsors and Tim and Stephen’s team have that with Bioracer (UK), DHL and FR Services. “We are delighted that Ken and Chris from Onimpex Bioracer have come on board” Tim says. “We are very fortunate to have such an iconic cycling brand involved, one steeped in cycling history and results. Ken and Chris have a long history of supporting Irish riders and races and we are very lucky to have our team racing in the Bioracer kit this year.”

For Ken, getting involved with such a team was a no brainer. He says “I was totally thrilled when I got involved as I hold Tim and Stephen Gallagher in high esteem. Stephen was the last Irish winner of the RAS and his family has a rich history in racing. Their race program includes all the British Premier races and the main Irish races on the calendar which was another reason I wanted to get involved”.

Other sponsors include household names like DHL. “DHL Global Forwarding was a key sponsor for us in 2018” Tim says, “and one of the main reasons our team is where it is today and have increased their funding again for this year. We are also delighted to have joined forces with Frank Roche Services: Total Temperature Control from Cork. Frank has seen that our team offers a unique opportunity to gain exposure both in some of the biggest UK races while still having a very strong presence on the Irish racing scene.”

“JHI Distribution Ireland have supported us with equipment and nutrition from the very beginning and with the combined support from them all, they have made this project possible and one we hope will continue to grow”.

The team’s provisional race programme
(to be confirmed when invites etc are made by organisers)
— Klondike Grand Prix
— Kerry Gold Ras Mumahn International (IRL)
— Cicle Classic (UK) (UCI 1.2)
— Victus Energy Tour of Ulster International (IRL)
— Lincoln GP (UK)
— National Criterium Championship (IRL)
— Bristol Grand Prix (UK)
— Tour of the Resevoire (UK)
— National Road Race Championships (IRL)
— Beaumount Trophy (UK)
— Isle of Man 3 day (UK)
— Foyle International 3day (IRL)

THE TEAM
The team, whilst very young, is made up of a very strong line-up with plenty of international, world and European championship experience. Eight of the riders have been part of the national squad in the past two years and we have two current national champions in Adam Ward and Dillon Corkery.

Dillon Corkery (19)
Adam Ward (18)
Breandan Flannagan (18)
John Buller (19)
Sean Moore (21)
Aaron Doherty (18)
Cian Sutcliffe (21)
Conor McCann (20)
Jack Caldwell (19)
Conor Gallagher (18)
Luke Smith (19)
Andy Maguire (21)

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