Rapha Condor Sharp complete line up with more youthful additions - 31/10/11

With the announcement of the signings of two talented young riders, Felix English and Mike Cuming, Rapha Condor Sharp has completed their line-up for 2012.

The next season will see a radical departure from the formula that has seen the squad dominate the British domestic scene over the past three seasons, and instead focus on the development of new British talent.

English and Cuming are two perfect examples of the types of riders that the team is hoping to attract and help to establish themselves as future professionals.

Describing his new charges John Herety commented that: “these two riders will be great additions to the team. Felix English has already had a brief moment in the spotlight when turned heads by beating Sir Chris Hoy in the European Track Champs last year. He was only 18 at the time and for a rider who doesn’t consider himself a pure sprinter it was an amazing scalp. He showed there that he has the right attitude, and enough craft to be able to make the most of any opportunities presented to him, that is the type of raw intrinsic talent that we can definitely develop”.

“Michael Cuming is another young rider we have identified as a talent. He was brought to our attention by Jon Tiernan-Locke who noticed Cuming during the last few Premier Calendars before the Tour of Britain, while JT was in pretty much the form of his life, Cuming was the only rider who could stay anywhere near him on the climbs. He has been with good teams in the past, in Raleigh and 3-C Orbea so he was an ideal candidate for our programme’.

These two additions take the complete rider roster up to 14 riders, one more than this season, something Herety considered an important decision to be able to race at a high enough level consistently throughout the year, while making sure the young riders also had room to recover.

“Despite the relative youth as a team as a whole we still need to be able to go to races such as the Tour of Normadie and compete, also the cycling season also demands that we will have some other intense periods of racing. Part of the reason for expanding the numbers of riders (and keeping some of our older more experienced riders) is that we will have the manpower to race well throughout these periods”.

“To be honest the reaction to the news of the teams change in focus has been overwhelming from riders, I have had a constant stream of impressive CV’s since the announcement. I am sure there are going to be very good guys who we may have missed this time around but it is good to know that there is such a pool of talent out there, and we will be looking throughout the year again for riders who come back and prove themselves”.

The full line up for the 2012 Rapha Condor Sharp team is:

Ed Clancy
Mike Cuming
Dean Downing
Felix English (IRL)
Ben Grenda (AUS)
Richard Handley
Kristian House
Christopher Jennings (SA)
Tim Kennaugh
Richard Lang (AUS)
James McCallum
Luke Mellor
Oliver Rossi
Andy Tennant

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