Madison Genesis are proud to announce their 2017 team line-up – including new signings Rich Handley, Johnny McEvoy, Alex Paton and Connor Swift.
Madison Genesis are proud to announce their 2017 team line-up – including new signings Rich Handley, Johnny McEvoy, Alex Paton and Connor Swift.
Team manager Mike Northey was optimistic to retain the core of a team that has delivered its best season since forming in 2013, while adding strength in depth with the four new signings.
“I think we have good reason to be upbeat heading into 2017, with a great group of riders all ambitious to perform” Northey enthused.
“This year we saw some strong individual and team performances as well as the likes of Gruff Lewis and Matt Holmes really progress. Along with the new additions to the team, I think we can take this momentum and move on again.”
The four new names are confirmed to join the squad following the departure of Tom Stewart, Felix English and Tristan Robbins.
NEW SIGNINGS
Those new riders include Alex Paton who joins from Pedal Heaven. As a junior, Paton enjoyed international success as a mountain biker, but he took a break from the sport in 2008. He returned to competition in late 2012 racing cyclo-cross and two years later had taken his first National Trophy win.
Alex Paton (far right), leading Peter Sagan at the 2008 junior mountain bike world cup in Houffalize, Belgium.
Switching his focus to the road, Paton started as an unknown quantity, but quickly gained a reputation for his attacking, especially at the Tour Series.
Johnny McEvoy transfers from NFTO, having previously ridden for NetApp Endura, Motorpoint and as a junior and academy athlete on British Cycling’s Olympic Performance Programmes.
Taking on his first Tour of Britain back in 2008 at just 19-years-old, he has completed six editions of the race, having also finished Paris Roubaix in a varied and progressive decade in cycling.
Connor Swift joins the team having shown a remarkable recovery from a horrific mid-season crash – in which he sustained six vertebrae fractures, seven rib fractures, one fracture on the base of his skull, metacarpal fractures on his right hand, right scapula fracture, small pneumothorax on right lung and a left tibial laceration.
Despite such a setback, Swift was back on the bike within months, racing and winning at regional level.
Rich Handley joins from One Pro Cycling, having previously ridden for JLT Condor and Raleigh GAC. The 26-year-old rider from Warrington rode to second in the King of the Mountains classification at the Tour de Yorkshire, as well as taking fifth at the British time trial championships.
With the roster finalised, the riders now focus on a block of training that will take them into 2017 and the first training camp of the year.
Madison Genesis 2017 team lineup
Alex Blain
Matt Cronshaw
Joe Evans
Taylor Gunman
Rich Handley
Matt Holmes
Tobyn Horton
Gruff Lewis
Johnny McEvoy
Alex Paton
Erick Rowsell
Connor Swift