McConvey will now split his time between Belgium where the team will be based and Northern Ireland where the young rider is from and currently trains out of the Sports Institute Northern Ireland at Jordanstown.
McConvey, who is only 21, has been a Sports Institute Northern Ireland athlete for three years is looking forward the move and had this to say,
“I am really excited about going to the road; it was always part of my plan. My coach and I talked about it over the summer and decided that we should make the move now rather than leave it too long.
It is fair to say that I enjoy both disciplines but the road is the biggest stage for any cyclist and it is the hardest place to make it to the top, I want to be in the environment where I am competing with the best on the road and racing with the best teams.
This is the start of the journey and joining up with AnPost is a stepping stone to racing with the biggest teams in the world.”
Dr Phil Lee, High Performance Director for Cycling Ireland had this to say about Connor’s move from Mountain Biking to Road racing,
“Cycling Ireland welcome this move for Connor, who has proved himself as a very talented athlete and has shown great potential on the road already in both the World Championships in 2008 and the Europeans in 2009.
We very much see Connor as a key part of our team heading towards London 2012 and bringing Connor into the AnPost team will accelerate his development, we know he has the talent and power, we just need to harness it and transfer his mountain biking skills directly onto the road.”
General Manager of the AnPost team, Kurt Bogaerts, had this to say of Connor,
“I know Connor through the national team and I worked with him at the Worlds before. I know that he has a great potential and now it is our job to get the potential in the right place, and so that he feels 100 percent in it. That is what we are going to try to do.”
Connor is funded from Sport Northern Ireland and the Irish Sports Council and receives services from Sports Institute Northern Ireland.
