The Drapac Pat’s Veg Holistic Development team has announced a new name along with its 11-man squad for the 2018 season. The team will be retaining several of its 2017 riders, including University of Melbourne student Cyrus Monk who rode for a trial period with the Cannondale-Drapac World Tour team this year.
Joining him from 2017 will be Jesse Featonby, James Pane, Thomas Kaesler, Oliver Kent-Spark, Liam White, and Theodore Yates.
White, who is studying exercise and sports science at Federation University won his first NRS stage this year at the Tour of the Great South Coast, while Yates, a Curtin University student, won two UCI stages in 2017 at the tours of Thailand and Iran.
“I’m super pumped for the 2018 season. After this year’s success in UCI races and in Europe, the boys and I know we can win races. With some new blood in the team, it’s going to be exciting to see just how far we can go”, said Yates.
New riders set to join the team are Patrick Burt, Alexander Smyth, former triathlete Sascha Bondarenko-Edwards, and current U23 Time-Trial Oceania Champion Liam Magennis.
Road Captain for 2018 Oliver Kent-Spark is looking forward to taking on his new role with the team. “We had a great 2017, and had a lot of success. In 2018, we will build on our experiences with our new riders who are more than capable of adding to our already exciting line-up”.
Saying goodbye to Drapac is Brad Evans, Mathew Ross and Nicholas Katsonis. Brad will be moving onto newly continental Australian team Mobius-Bridgelane, while Mathew will be moving to French team, AC Bisontine. Nicholas is taking a step back from racing, however will be assisting with the team’s social media component, which aligns perfectly with the Marketing degree that he is currently studying for.
Sport Director’s Agostino Giramondo and Mark O’Brien will again be at the helm for the development team’s race program. Speaking about the upcoming season O’Brien said, “I’m really excited with our new recruits for 2018. I think we have a well-balanced team that will suit the style of racing we are taking on. With this squad, I think we can be competitive on all terrains, and I believe we can take our results up to another level in 2018”.
In a positive sponsorship step for the team, both EF Education First and Cannondale expressed interest in directly assisting Drapac Pat’s Veg for next year. In 2018 the team will be known as the Drapac EF p/b Cannondale Holistic Development team.
Drapac EF p/b Cannondale will be riding Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod Disc’s with Vision Wheels, will also be continuing their partnership with POC for apparel, helmets and eyewear, and shoes will be provided by Bont for the 2018 season. The team will also be sponsored by New Balance for their casual wear.
The Drapac EF p/b Cannondale Holistic Development team will be debuting at the 2018 FedUni Road National Championships, beginning on January 3rd in Ballarat.
The full team for 2018:
- Oliver Kent-Spark – Bachelor of Management. Deakin University.
- Cyrus Monk – Bachelor of Science. University of Melbourne.
- Liam White – Bachelor of Exercise & Sports Science. Federation University.
- James Pane – Bachelor of Education. Victoria University.
- Theodore Yates – Bachelor of Architecture. Curtin University.
- Thomas Kaesler – Bachelor of Commerce. Adelaide University.
- Jesse Featonby – Master of Teaching. La Trobe University.
- Patrick Burt – Bachelor of Engineering. Monash University.
- Liam Magennis – Bachelor of Environmental Science. Charles Sturt University.
- Sascha Bondarenko – Bachelor of Exercise Science / Bachelor of Business Administration. Australian Catholic University.
- Alexander Smyth – Bachelor of Business. Monash University.
For further information, please contact info@drapaccycling.com
