The An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly team has confirmed the signing of Irish talent, Conor Hennebry for the 2017 season. The up-and-coming 23-year-old has signed a one-year deal, joining fellow compatriots Sean McKenna and Matthew Teggart, who were announced to the team earlier this month.
Hennebry, who only began racing three years ago, had a successful 2016 season in Belgium while racing for previous club, Team Aquablue. While in Belgium, he won four races, including the Kermesse Sinaai where he soloed to a magnificent victory.
Hennebry is thrilled with the move to An Post and commented on his enthusiasm for the 2017 season: “I am really looking forward to joining An Post next season. It has been an ambition of mine for the last numbers of years to race full time at international level. I’m looking forward to helping the team win races and hopefully get some good results myself.
I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and I don’t want to look back in a number of years and ask myself ‘why didn’t I try harder when I had the chance?’. With the excellent personnel behind the An Post set up, I know they will push me to reach my potential and push me to get to that next step on the cycling ladder. I think 2017 will be a good year.”
Also joining the An Post squad for 2017 is German rider, Jonas Bokeloh. Bokeloh, who previously raced for Klein Constantia, was the 2014 Junior World Road Race Champion in Spain. The 20 year old comes off the back of last season with a very impressive win at the Trofej Umag (1.2) in Croatia.
Mark Stewart has been confirmed on a one year deal. The British born rider joins compatriot Jacob Scott who signed last week and brings plenty of power and speed to the team having just been crowned 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Cup champion in Glasgow.
Taking third at the World Cup was Canadian, Adam Jamieson, who has also been snapped up by An Post Team Manager, Kurt Bogaerts for next season. Jamieson will concentrate primarily on the track leading into the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Hong Kong in April before joining up with the team on a full time basis.
Dutch rider, Bas Tietema, has made the move from BMC Development Team. The 21 year-old brings valuable classic experience to the squad, taking an impressive third place in the Roubaix Espoirs (U23) in Paris in his first year of the race in 2014.
Bogaerts believes that while the new additions are still very young, they bring a huge amount of experience to the squad and looks forward to seeing how they compete: “We are investing in young riders this year. They have all had some big results already in their careers and you don’t get those results without a lot of talent and hard work. We believe together as a team they will be very competitive and as individuals we will look to push them to the next level.”
Bogaerts has confirmed more signings will be confirmed in the next few days. The An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly team riders will come together later this year for their first training camp in Calpe, Spain before the start of the 2017 season.
