CYCLING:IRISH ROAD race and time-trial champion Matt Brammeier is set to get his season off to an early start, making his debut with his new Omega Pharma Quick Step team in less than a month's time. The former HTC Highroad rider will line out as part of the squad in the Santos Tour Down Under, the first UCI World Tour race of the season.
The Australian event will begin in Adelaide on January 15th and will run for eight days. Brammeier will join former world under-23 champion Gerald Ciolek on the team, with the German and the past Tour de France stage-winner Gert Steegmans of Belgium likely to be the designated sprinters.
The squad will also include the Britain’s Andy Fenn, who raced with the Irish-sponsored An Post Grant Thornton M Donnelly Seán Kelly team in 2011, then secured a deal with the Omega Pharma Quick Step team.
Brammeier’s early start to the season comes despite the Irish champion having had a big operation at the start of November. He had a titanium rod extracted from his leg and initially had difficulty training and walking. The rod had been put in place following a serious crash in 2007, when he was hit by a truck and broke both legs.
Earlier this month he had a training camp with team-mates in Calpe, Spain and he has clearly impressed the team enough to be given the nod for its first big race of 2012. General manager Patrick Lefevere believes the 26-year-old has a lot of promise. “Brammeier is a rider the team wants to bet on for the near future,” he said. “He is entering an important phase in his career and we think he can even improve in our group.”
Meanwhile, another of Ireland’s top riders is facing a little uncertainty about his first race of 2012. Dan Martin plans to line out in the Tour of the Mediterranean between February 8th-12th, but this week the French cycling federation (FFC) indicated the race was cancelled due to a dispute over unpaid fees to the French Ligue Nationale de Cyclisme. The FFC has since said it wants to find a solution. Until then Martin and his team will be unsure about their participation in the event.
