He missed out on a planned debut in his first three-week race this year due to a horrendous crash, but Matt Brammeier’s chances of putting that statistic right have been hugely boosted this week.
The multiple Irish champion is a rider with the African MTN-Qhubeka team, which was racing as a Pro Continental squad in recent seasons. Its status meant that it needed wildcard invitations to the top events, including the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.
That will change for 2016, after the sport’s governing body the UCI confirmed that it had been granted a World Tour licence for next season.
The licence places the team as one of the top-18 squads in the world, each of which race at this top level. One of the perks is an automatic entry into the biggest events, including the Tour and Vuelta, and also the Giro d’Italia in May.
Strong recovery
Brammeier has made a strong recovery from the injuries he suffered in August when he hit a car on a fast downhill section at the Tour of Utah. He suffered rib fractures on both sides and a punctured lung, plus fractures of his sacral and pelvic bones.
He has since returned to training and is building up for what he hopes will be a career-best season.
Brammeier took his biggest win when he won a stage of the 2015 Ster ZLM Toer with a superb solo move. He is expected to be part of the Classics squad for the squad, which will be renamed Team Dimension Data after its title sponsorship changes on January 1st.
He will also likely play a role in sprint leadouts, not least because he is reuniting with former team-mate Mark Cavendish. The Briton had been racing with the Etixx-Quick-Step squad and is closing in on Eddy Merckx’s all-time record of 34 Tour stages.
Five Irish riders will be part of the World Tour next year. Brammeier aside, Dan Martin will be with Etixx-Quick-Step, moving there after eight years with Cannondale-Garmin. Ryan Mullen is turning pro with the latter team, while Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan will remain with Team Sky. Sam Bennett stays with the Bora Argon 18 team, which will require a repeat invite to the Tour.
