With the start of his first ever Paris-Roubaix just hours away, Irish road race champion Matt Brammeier has said that he is looking forward to lining out in the Hell of the North for the first time in his career. The HTC Highroad rider wasn’t originally due to ride the race, but was called up after showing good form in recent weeks.
“I have obviously been really excited for the last week, really,” he told VeloNation on Saturday evening. “It is a race I have dreamed of doing since I started cycling. Paris-Roubaix was the race I looked forward to watching every year as a kid and so to be here is pretty amazing.
“We just had our team meeting now and talked a bit about the race. I’ve started to feel a bit nervous now,” he added, with a laugh.
This time last year Brammeier was competing with the Continental An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team. He attracted attention when he beat ProTour riders Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin to win the Irish road race championships, having been the first rider to attack that day and staying in the thick of the action throughout. Whilst the result was an unexpected one, the manner of his taking it left little doubt as to his strength.
That plus an aggressive showing in the Tour of Britain and world championships helped earn him a contract with the HTC Highroad team.
Born in Liverpool and previously holding a British licence prior to declaring for Ireland, he knows Mark Cavendish for several years. The sprinter had his morale boosted by his victory this week in Schledeprijs, and Brammeier will be backing him in tomorrow’s race. He explained what the team plan will be.
“We are just going to look after Bernie [Eisel] and Matt Goss and Cav,” he told VeloNation. “My job is to look after them for the first 150 kilometres of the race, put them in a good position for the important parts. They will probably be our leaders for tomorrow, even if everyone on the team is going pretty well, Everyone rides well on these type of roads…I think we have a pretty strong team, so hopefully we will do something good with it.”
On a personal level, he would like to reach the velodrome in Roubaix. He’s not sure what to expect in that regard, though. “It kind of all depends on how the race goes. It would be really nice to get to the finish, but I need to do my job,” he explained “What I plan to do is to just stick with Bernie…obviously he has got a lot of experience. I will just do what he tells me to do, basically – if that means I am finished after 150 kilometres, then c’est la vie. That is part of the job. But I’d like to get to the finish…we will see.”
Settling in well:
Brammeier’s selection for a race as big as tomorrow’s Classic shows that he is fitting in nicely and meeting expectations. His debut race this year saw him take tenth in the prologue of the Tour of Qatar, covering the distance quicker than all the others on the team. Since then he’s been riding well for the leaders, helping out in whatever way he can.
He knows that this year is about earning the ropes; if he continues to progress, he’ll get opportunities too, but at this point of the season he is soaking up experience and gaining strength while he is at it.
He wasn’t originally expected to ride Paris-Roubaix, and so getting the nod can be interpreted as a vote of confidence.
“I was a bit sick after the Three Days of West Flanders. I had a few weeks of not feeling too good, but I started feeling much better in the last few weeks. I had a good race in De Panne so they changed the selection for Roubaix and put me in because I was riding pretty strongly. That was good.”
His improving form is reflected in his 19th place in the time trial in the Three Days of De Panne, plus his earlier 26th place in Nokere Koerse.
“Things are going well with the team. Obviously all the little things are starting to make a difference. I am starting to ride a lot stronger and feel better on the bike. I am enjoying it as well.”
He’s also clicking in terms of settling in. “There is a great group of guys, and all the riders and staff get on really well. So I am enjoying it, it is really good so far.”
A good performance by him and the team tomorrow would make the atmosphere even better.