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Three Brits in young AnPost-Chain Reaction Cycles line-up for 2017

Sean Kelly in buoyant mood as Irish UCI Continental team confirms roster for new season

Irish UCI Continental team AnPost-Chain Reaction Cycles will boast three British riders for 2017, with general manager Sean Kelly optimistic about the chances of the young team this season.

Dave Rayner Fund-backed duo Dan Gardner and Jacob Scott are on board, alongside British Cycling Academy graduate Mark Stewart, while the team also boasts four Irish riders for the new season.

Matthew Teggart, another Dave Rayner Fund beneficiary, Connor Hennebry, Sean McKenna and former Irish champion Damien Shaw make up the Irish quartet.

Scott, 21, will ride with the team for the second consecutive year – one of only two riders retained from 2016 – having made his Tour of Britain debut with them in September.

Gardner, meanwhile, is a new addition to the roster, with the 20-year-old having previously raced in America with the Astellas Cycling Team.

Finally, Stewart will link up with the team after riding at Challenge Mallorca for the Great Britain team. The 21-year-old raced at last year’s Tour de Yorkshire and Tour of Britain for the national team too.

Of the Irish riders, former national champion Shaw, 32, is the best known, having beaten Eddie Dunbar to the green, white and gold jersey in Omagh in 2015.

Shaw returns for 2017 having finished fifth at last year’s An Post Ras, and also pulled on the national jersey for the European Road Race in Plumelec.

McKenna, 22, joins after riding as a stagiaire with the team in 2016, while Hennebry and Teggart, both 21, are new additions for 2017.

The young riders will be looking to follow the examples set by recent An Post-Chain Reaction alumni Ryan Mullen, Owain Doull, Sam Bennett and Shane Archbold – all of whom will be riding on the UCI WorldTour this season.

British Cycling Academy graduate Mark Stewart will ride for AnPost-Chain Reaction in 2017 (pic: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

The line-up is completed by Germany’s Jonas Bokeloh, Dutch duo Davy Gunst and Bas Tietema, Canadians Adam Jamieson and Sean MacKinnon, New Zealander Regan Gough, Poland’s Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz and Belgian rider Massimo Vanderaerden.

Bokeloh, 20, won the junior world road race in 2014, while Gough kicked off his 2017 season by being crowned national under-23 time trial champion.

Former Irish champion Damien Shaw is retained for 2017 (pic – Sirotti)

While no longer Ireland’s biggest team – new UCI ProContinental outfit Aqua Blue Sport can now claim that honour – AnPost-Chain Reaction Cycles are still likely to be a decent presence on the international scene.

Their early-season calendar already includes the GP Cycliste la Marseillaise and Etoile de Besseges in France, while they are Tour of Britain regulars too.

Belgian Kurt Bogaerts will serve as team manager, and Irish legend Kelly – who rode with the team at their recent Calpe training camp – is general manager.

And the nine-time Monument winner said of the new roster, which has a larger focus on under-23 riders than in previous years: “The team that has been assembled is a very young one but they’re certainly not short on talent.

“We have a squad of 15 strong riders who are in great shape and hungry to achieve big things this season.”

Jacob Scott is one of three Dave Rayner Fund beneficiaries on the team (pic – Sirotti)

AnPost-Chain Reaction team for 2017

Dan Gardner (GBR)
Jacob Scott (GBR)
Mark Stewart (GBR)
Damien Shaw (IRL)
Matthew Teggart (IRL)
Sean McKenna (IRL)
Connor Hennebry (IRL)
Jonas Bokeloh (GER)
Regan Gough (NZL)
Davy Gunst (NED)
Adam Jamieson (CAN)
Prezemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (POL)
Sean MacKinnon (CAN)
Bas Tietema (NED)
Massimo Vanderaerden (BEL)

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