Irish champ aiming to hit the ground running in 2014, wants to be in strong form from first event
Irish road race champion Matt Brammeier has said that he expects his first race of the season will be the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, an event he wants to be in strong form for in order to begin the year on a good note.
The 28 year old has signed a one year contract with the Synergy Baku team and has been training well in order to make an impression in 2014. He had a stressful end to season when his Champion System team folded and he had to search for a new deal; he doesn’t want to be in that situation again, and knows that a good run of results is the best insurance against that.
“I will start in Langkawi,” he told VeloNation. “I did it a few years back when I was under 23. It is a different race now, a couple of days longer. There are a few more WorldTour teams now. It should be a good first race. Obviously nice weather, nice roads and stuff. I want to try hit it in good shape and get something out of it. I don’t want to just use it for form.”
Brammeier met his new team-mates at the training camp held earlier this month in Calpe. Since then he has racked up more training in Girona and in Belgium, returning to the latter for the Christmas period. “I am just getting ready to build back up and get stuck into another block of training in the next few days,” he said.
“I go to Girona next week again, and I think I will be there until the first races start. That said, I think we have another camp again sometime in January, with the guys who aren’t racing in Australia. It will be in either Majorca or Girona. I am crossing my fingers it’s Girona.
“The aim anyway is to head to Malaysia in good shape. Normally it takes me a couple of races to really fire, but I want to try my best to be competitive as soon as I start.
“I don’t think I am going to have as many races next year as I did this year, so I need to take every one of them and get the most out of every single race. I can’t really afford to be racing for training next year, I need to be good every day.”
Brammeier won his fourth consecutive Irish road race title in June, setting a new record. He was initially lukewarm about the first design of his jersey under the Synergy Baku team, but says that he is satisfied with version two.
“We got one sorted eventually. We had to mess around with it to try to please everyone, but it looks really nice, actually. Everyone is happy and I am sure everyone back home will like it as well.
“It has lost the pink [the team’s signature colour is pomegranate – ed.] and has a bit more green in it than before. It will be a pretty plain jersey but it will be easy to pick out…it looks good,” he said.