Three-time Irish road race champion, Matt Brammeier, has lodged an appeal with Ireland’s Olympic Council in a bid to represent the country in the Olympic road race.
Brammeier, who added a third national title to his palmares last Sunday, has been overlooked by selectors from Cycling Ireland, the national federation.
Two riders from the UCI WorldTour, Nicholas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale), who finished second to Brammeier at the national championships, and Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp), make up two-thirds of the three-man squad, but Brammeier has not been chosen.
He said: “At the moment my management company Trinity Sports Management has lodged an appeal on my behalf to the Olympic Council Of Ireland and I am currently waiting on the process running its course.
“I think its a no brainer that it would mean a great deal for me to take part in London.
“I really feel like Ireland have their best chance of a result for a long, long time, and I really want to be a part of doing all we can to achieve that goal.”
The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider soloed to victory in Clonmel last Sunday, making a well-timed move to break clear of Roche and Philip Lavery (Node4-Giordana) at the end of a day spent at the head of the race.
Brammeier told RoadCyclingUK he knew the attack would prove decisive “as soon I made it.”
“An old sports director, John Herety, once told me to only ever attack to win the race. It was my first and only attack of the race, and I made it count,” he said.
Outside of the nationals, a strong showing in the season-opening Tour Down Under and selection for the Vuelta a Espana have marked the high points of a season derailed by illness.
The second-year pro, who raced last year with world road race champion, Mark Cavendish, at the now defunct HTC-Highroad team, said he hoped a third national title would refocus his season.
“I always said I was never interested in chasing any type of records. What I was chasing is the chance to wear the jersey for another year. I knew it would be a tough fight and I would be up against it more than ever. The start to my season hasn’t been super due to illness etc. so to win on Sunday has given me a huge boost and will hopefully get my 2012 season on track,” he said.
Brammeier is among a host of riders from the Belgian Omega Pharma-QuickStep team to have triumphed in their national championships.
Team leader, Tom Boonen, won the Belgian title, Niki Terpstra lifted the Dutch crown, while Michal Golas was crowned Polish champion. Sylvain Chavanel, Tony Martin, and Peter Velits won the French, German, and Slovak national time trial championships.
“It would be pretty cool to have us all in the same race!” Brammeier joked. “[We’d be] a technicoloured dream team!”
