Young Irish rider Daire Feeley will join up with the Union Cycliste de Monaco U23 team for the 2017 season, the team have announced.
19 year-old Feeley from Roscommon, who has raced for Team iTap for the past three seasons has had a very impressive season this year. In June, he finished in 7th place in the National Championships and won the bronze medal in the U23 category behind Michael O’Loughlin and Mark Downey.
He also finished in 5th place in the Mountains Classification in the Tour de Hokkaido (UCI 2.2) and was 57th in the World U23 Road Race Championships in Oman last month.
The team’s race programme focuses primarily on French and Italian races such as the UCI 1.2U one-day races Trofeo Edil and Trofeo Piva in Italy and the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta Mont Blanc (2.2U) stage race.
The UC Monaco team line-up this season featured riders from a number of countries including Thomas Armstrong (Great Britain), Ben Gerrits (Netherlands), Lucas Gehin (France) Simone Mammoliti (Italy) and Brandon Rivera (Colombia).
Feeley who has taken numerous victories on the Irish domestic scene is the first rider to progress from Team iTap (Irish Talented Athlete Program), the U23 cycling development team established by Jonathan Gibson.
