Brendan Canty's rise to the WorldTour has been swift with the 24-year-old spending 2015 at Continental level with Budget Forklifts, 2016 at Pro-Continental with Drapac, and now moves to the top tier of the sport in 2017 with Cannondale-Drapac. Canty's progression is akin to a football team moving through the divisions but the Australian is aiming for his time at the top to be a long time stay at the top and not an equally swift fall down.
"It is obviously a dream to have been given the opportunity and I didn't have any hesitations at all," Canty told Cyclingnews of the move. "Particularly for me, moving through with Michael Drapac and his team is something I am really looking forward to given that I have stagiaired with him for two years and then ridden full-time with his team this year. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and extremely excited for what the future holds."
In late June, it was announced that the Drapac and Cannondale teams would be merging from 2017 but there was no guarantee for the Pro-Continental riders that they would have a contract for the upcoming season. Due to his early-season performances, that included winning the best young rider classification and finishing seventh at the Tour of Oman, Canty sealed his first WorldTour contract. William Clarke and Tom Scully are the other Drapac riders who will join Canty at Cannondale-Drapac next season.
ADVERTISEMENT
Announcements that teams are folding, or sponsors are jumping ship can have adverse effects on riders who in turn focus on their personal results and jettison team plans. With the announcement of the merger made known to staff and riders early in the season, Canty explained that he didn't witness any selfish riding from his teammates despite the fact that this could have hurt their chances to earn a contract.
"I think it obviously changes a few things with what people want to achieve personally," Canty reflected on the impact of the merger news. "Did I see that change the way the team rode together? I don't think so. You always go into a race wanting to achieve the best and we sit down and talk about a plan and quite often I saw the guys go out and try and execute to the best of their ability the plan that we had for that race. It just adds to the level of pressure and obviously people want to perform and earn their spot, but I think there was also the element of who is doing their job well. We always spoke about that and the director sportifs knew that it was hard to give somebody a job that might not earn them a spot themselves but sacrifice their own chances for other riders. There was always that in the background but I don't think it affected how we performed as a team."
Canty's debut win on European soil came at the Tour of Austria while the Tour de France was in full flight. While performances at Austria can fly under the radar due to it clashing with the Tour, the win was an important one for Canty who had told Cyclingnews it was a target race for 2016.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2fjt9mF
No comments:
Post a Comment