Ireland’s first professional continental cycling team, Aqua Blue Sport, will make its debut in the pro-cycling peloton in Australia next year and will line up in the 2017 Jayco Herald Sun Tour.
The Aqua Blue team will feature two Australians, 2013 Jayco Herald Sun Tour winner Calvin Watson and 2016 Cadel Road Race runner-up Leigh Howard. Both will be well suited to the 2017 route for Australia’s oldest stage race that will commence with a city-centre prologue on Wednesday 1st February and conclude at Kinglake on Sunday 5th February.
Howard has joined the Irish outfit after the collapse of I am Cycling, with whom the Geelong-based rider made his Tour de France debut last year.
Watson launched his career as a 20-year-old by winning Australia’s oldest stage race riding for the Jayco-VIS team.
The pair will be joined by Aaron Gate (NZL), Peter Koning (NED), Michel Kreder (NED), Larry Warbasse (USA) and Conor Dunne (IRL).
The Irish team will begin its season against some of the best in the world, including three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome and ORICA-BikeExchange duo Esteban Chaves and two-time former Sun Tour champion Simon Gerrans.
Three years ago Watson became the youngest winner of the Sun Tour makes a return to the race for the first time since placing 20th in 2014.
“I’m looking forward to getting back, to Australia for one and secondly to the Sun Tour,” Watson said.
“I haven’t been there for a few years now and I believe the race has changed quite a bit since I won it as well. From looking at the profile it’s going to be a bloody hard race but an exciting one I think.
“It’s quite amazing to see how far the race has come and I think you’ve got to take your hat off to John Trevorrow – he’s obviously worked super hard to get the race to where he believes it belongs.
“I’ve been working really hard. I want to come to Australia and get the ball rolling well, not just for the morale. I’m not just coming to Australia to ride around, I’m coming to perform and chase results and get the season off to a great start.”
Compatriot Leigh Howard is also no stranger to the race, finishing eighth in the Sun Tour back in 2009.
“I’m really excited to be starting my season back home in Australia, and having taken second place in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race last year I’m definitely on a mission to perform in 2017,” Howard said.
“My pre-season has been going well, I’m excited to be with a new team and I will be disappointed with anything less than a strong result.”
Aqua Blue Sport owner, Rick Delaney is confident his team can be competitive in its first races in Australia as the team works towards a long-term plan of competing in the Tour de France.
“We are delighted with the team that we have assembled for our first race and believe we have the ability to make an impact from the outset in 2017,” Delaney said.
“We are getting very excited about the start of the season and competing in Australia. Seeing the navy and gold jersey on our riders in competition is something of a dream come true for me but also the beginning of the journey for Aqua Blue Sport.”
Watson said he was enjoying the environment of the start-up team and having a fellow Australian in Leigh Howard to share the journey.
“It’s a really exciting project. I’m actually just back from Cannes, we spent five days there with all the team. It was a fabulous week and the atmosphere within the squad was amazing,” Watson said.
“To have Rick behind this project and getting it off the ground is really special because, people say he’s trying to modernise cycling, but he’s trying to get the basics right and the team can snowball from there.
“It’s really cool to have Leigh on the team. For me to have another Australian there is always very nice. I know Leigh pretty well, raced against him a lot and for a team like Aqua Blue to have Leigh on-board is fantastic. He’s a quality bike rider and we all hope to see him at his best in Australia and we can make a bang and kick-start the year.”
| Aqua Blue – 2017 Jayco Herald Sun Tour | |||
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Conor Dunne @conordunnealot
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24 | IRE |
Dunne has competing at Continental level in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons and notching notable results including 1st in the 2016 Rutland-Melton International Cicle Classic and podium places in the 2015 Irish National Road Championships and on stage 4 of the 2015 Tour d’Azerbaïdjan.
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| Aaron Gate
@aarongate |
25 | NZL |
A member of the New Zealand squad that took team pursuit bronze at the 2012 London Games. Away from the velodrome, Gate has notched notable results in recent editions of the An Post Rás, taking the overall green jersey in both 2016 (where he also won a stage) and 2015 (first across the line in stages 2 and 5).
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| Leigh Howard
@leighoward1 |
26 | AUS |
Has had wins in one-day races including the Kampioenschap Van Vlaanderen (2010); Trofeo Alcúdia-Can Picafort-Playa de Muro (2013); Trofeo Migjorn (2013) and Clasica de Almeria (2016). Not just a one-day specialist, Howard has also performed on multi-stage tours including the Tour of Oman, Tour of Britain (including a stage win in 2012) and Tour des Fjords.
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| Peter Koning
@nl_peterkoning |
24 | NED |
A professional since 2012 and at Pro Continental level since 2015 with DRAPAC Pro Cycling, Koning has spent much of his career in the service of his teammates and is happy to be known as a team player, but sees his new role with Aqua Blue Sport as offering great potential to add to his palmarès.
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| Larry Warbasse
@larrywarbasse |
26 | USA |
His career highlights include a podium place in a stage of the 2014 Tour de Suisse and eighth place overall in the 2015 Bayern Rundfahrt. However it is his seventh overall in this year’s Tour of Poland that stands out for Warbasse as his most notable achievement on the bike, as it was the culmination of months of hard work after returning from injury.
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| Calvin Watson
@calvin_watson |
23 | AUS | The 2013 Jayco Herald Sun Tour winner and youngest ever champion, Watson joins Aqua Blue Sport from the An Post – Chain Reaction Cycles team with whom he rode in 2016, alongside new teammate Aaron Gate. |
