One of the top riders on the Irish domestic scene, Conn McDunphy (Lucan CRC), has been rewarded for his impressive 2017 season with a contract with the British UCI Continental team Raleigh-GAC.
The 20 year-old has been very consistent since the start of the season, taking a number of wins and numerous top-10 results. Amongst his results this season have been wins in the Tour of Ards and Boyne Grand Prix. He also finished in 4th in the Shay Elliott Memorial, 9th in the Des Hanlon Memorial and 5th on a stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.
More recently in An Post Rás (UCI 2.2), McDunphy was one of the top domestic finishers on GC in his debut at the race. In addition, he also finished 10th in the youth classification and on the final stage to Skerries managed to make it into the winning break.
It’s unclear at this stage which races he will line up for Team Raleigh-GAC in. His contract will start after the Irish National Championships.
Team Raleigh GAC is managed by ex pro-cyclist Cherie Pridham and based in Derby, just down the road from Raleigh’s Nottingham HQ. The team were founded in 2010 and since their inception have taken numerous domestic wins in the UK in addition to stage wins at the Vuelta Mexico and Tour de Normandie and a World Madison title through Morgan Kneisky.
The team rides a mainly UK domestic campaign and in April were amongst the teams invited to the Tour de Yorkshire (UCI 2.1). They’re also hopeful of receiving an entry to the Tour of Britain (UCI HC) in September. The team are also scheduled to take part in a number of Belgian kermesses including races in Geraardsbergen, Tienen, Kortrijk and Heusden in August.
McDunphy has some experience of racing in Belgium having placed 8th in the youth classification of the Ronde van Oost-Vlaanderen last year.
Shay Murphy – Lucan CRC’s Directeur Sportif for both the Junior and U23 teams – feels that the contract is a just reward for the efforts that both the rider and club have put in over the past number of years.
“We set out a few years back with some promising first year juniors and as a club put a plan to develop and help them achieve there goals in cycling,” said Murphy. “We have brought in some of the best coaches available along with our own vast experience as a club and brought all of these lads to A1 level. Conn has now reached the next step in that development which is brilliant for a small club in Lucan.”
“We wish Conn every success in his future and are very proud of him both on and off the bike as a representative of LCRC. Conn is just the start of great things from this club as we have many other talented young riders coming through at both Senior and junior level.”
well done lad