The Synergy Baku team from Azerbaijan have announced that they will return to the An Post Rás next month. The team boast an impressive record in the race winning two stages in three years and claiming two top five overall finishes.
The Baku outfit took stage wins in 2013 with the Russian Kirill Pozdnyakov plus the Kiwi Rico Rogers and in 2014 with Austrian rider Jan Sokol.
It also helped Irishman Connor McConvey to second overall two years ago and the German Christoph Schweizer to his fifth place finish in 2014.
According to the team manager, Irishman David McQuaid, the final line-up is yet to be decided and will be based in part on whether the young Azerbaijan riders the team has been set up to develop get the necessary visas.
“This season, with the route being a route to suit an aggressive rider as opposed to a specialist, we have a very good chance to give our young riders on the team the opportunity to race a good stage race that is well within their limits.
From our international riders that bring the experience to the fold, Eibegger had requested to come back but sadly is out until at least the start of July due to a bad fall in Tour de Taiwan.
Looking at the provisional squad to make the final cut of five starters, we have experienced internationals Matej Mugerli, Dennis van Winden and Ioannis Tamouridis available. How many of these guys start will depend on visas for our Azeri riders Elchin Asadov, Tural Isgandarov, Enver Asanov and Elgun Alizada.”
McQuaid said that Tamouridis has in particular showed good form this season, netting placings of second and third on stages in the Tour of Taiwan.
He added that the general classification is not initially a big target as he wants the team to help the developing riders to achieve strong results.
“We would be looking to race aggressively, taking each day as a new day and if by doing so one of our stronger guys gets close to general classification contention, then we will consider it then.
However the full goal is really mixing old and new on our team and giving the new guys the opportunity to race at a level where they can do more than simply follow wheels. It could be a great week for them.”
Some of the team’s riders will do the Tour de Bretagne in France as part of the build-up, and then go on to the Tour of Azerbaijan. The latter is one of the very top goals of the season and should put them in strong form. Other riders will be doing the Nations Cup under 23 World Cup races plus 1.2-ranked events in Italy.
The results of those various contests will be used in part to determine selection.
The team will join the recently-announced squads Hrinkow Advarics CYcleanG of Austria, Sweden’s Tre Berg – Bianchi, the Australian outfit Subaru Albion, British teams NFTO and JLT Condor plus the national squads of Canada and New Zealand in the line-up.
A number of other strong international outfits are yet to be announced.
The 2015 An Post Rás will begin in Dunboyne on May 17 and will feature stage finishes in Carlow, Tipperary, Bearna, Newport, Ballina, Ballinamore, Drogheda and Skerries.
It will total almost 1200 kilometres in length and will include 21 categorised climbs.
