| An Post–Chain Reaction | |
| Code: | SKT |
| Registered: | Ireland (2006-09, 2014-17) / Belgium (2010-13) |
| Disbanded: | 2017 |
| Bicycles: | Vitus |
| Website: | http://www.anpostchainreaction.com/ |
| Generalmanager: | Kurt Bogaerts |
| Teammanager: | Niko Eeckhout[1] |
| Discipline: | Road |
| Status: | UCI Continental |
| Season: | 2006 2007 2008–2011 2012 2013–2017 |
| Oldname: | Sean Kelly ACLVB–M Donnelly Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn–M Donnelly–Sean Kelly An Post–M Donnelly–Grant Thornton–Sean Kelly An Post–Sean Kelly An Post–Chain Reaction |
| Kitimage: | An Post–Sean Kelly jersey.jpg |
An Post–Chain Reaction was a UCI continental professional cycling team that participated on the UCI Europe Tour. The squad was managed by Kurt Bogaerts and Sean Kelly.
It contested one-day and stage races at events across Europe, with riders taking overall victories on the UCI Europe Tour at races including Vuelta a Extremadura in Spain, Rás Tailteann in Ireland and Ronde de l'Oise in France. There were also successes in higher-category races including the one-day Schaal Sels in the Netherlands and two stage wins at the Tour of Britain. Six elite and five junior national road and time trial championships were won by riders contracted to the team.
The squad was based at the Sean Kelly Academy in Merchtem, Flanders. It was registered in Ireland before switching to Belgium between 2010 and 2013 to gain access to more races in that country. The team became Irish-registered again in 2014 and declared an ambition to move up to professional continental level.[2] However, the team disbanded at the end of the 2017 season after failing to find sponsorship for 2018.
Vuelta a España and seven-time Paris–Nice winner Sean Kelly launched the first Irish professional cycling team in 2006 with the name Sean Kelly ACLVB–M Donnelly. Its sponsors were ACLVB, the General Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium,[3] and M Donnelly, a Dublin-registered company with interests in various technical, sporting and commercial lines of business.[4]
Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn, another Irish continental team, was launched later in 2006. For the 2007 season, these two teams merged to form the Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn–M Donnelly–Sean Kelly squad.[5] [6] The team achieved several good results including second overall in the Rás Tailteann for Paídi O'Brien.[7]
At the end of 2007, it was announced that the team would retain three title sponsors as well as the name of its founder for 2008. An Post, the national postal service of Ireland, would replace Murphy & Gunn as main sponsor while professional services company Grant Thornton replaced the Newlyn group as a co-sponsor.[8]
Kurt Bogaerts rode for the team in 2006, his final year as a professional cyclist. He was appointed general manager of the team for the 2007 season.
For the 2008 season, the team now known as An Post–M Donnelly–Grant Thornton–Sean Kelly became more international with four Belgians, two Britons, one Swede and one German joining the six Irish riders.[9]
Daniel Lloyd was the general classification winner and the team was victorious on stage 1, a team time trial, at the 2008 Vuelta a Extremadura. Paidi O'Brien, Benny De Schrooder and Lloyd all wore the leader's jersey during the race, the latter taking overall victory by 36 seconds.[10]
2008 also saw overall victories for Stephen Gallagher at the FBD Insurance Ras in Ireland and Daniel Fleeman at the Tour des Pyrénées which raced from France to Spain.[11]
Lloyd and Fleeman left the team after the 2008 season, both joining .[12]
The team took six professional victories in 2009, of which five went to Niko Eeckhout. He followed up the team's 2008 general classification win at the Vuelta a Extremadura with two stage victories, and took a stage and the points jersey at Rás Tailteann. He also scored one-day race wins at Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem and Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen, as well as a second-place finish at the prestigious Dwars door Vlaanderen.[13] Steven Van Vooren took the other win with overall victory at Ronde de l'Oise.[14]
The team switched registration from Ireland to Belgium for the 2010 season. Despite being based in Flanders, the team's owners and sponsors were Irish and had maintained its official domicile there since launching in 2006. However, being a foreign-registered team competing below the Professional Continental level meant the team was ineligible for many Belgian races, including the Tour of Belgium and E3 Harelbeke. Team General Manager Kurt Bogaerts noted that moving to Professional Continental level would be prohibitively expensive, but switching to Belgium was possible as long as there were at least eight Belgian riders in the squad. He expected this would allow the team to compete in 10-20 more races per season.[15]
A rider from the team claimed a national championship for the first time when Matt Brammeier took the first of his four consecutive victories in the Irish National Cycling Championships road race. Liverpool-born Brammeier had previously represented Great Britain but switched his allegiance to Ireland prior to the 2010 season.[16] Nico Eeckhout took stage wins in the Ronde de l'Oise and Etoile de Bessèges, and Mark Cassidy and David O'Loughlin both won a stage at the FBD Insurance Ras.[17]
Lithuanian rider Gediminas Bagdonas joined the team for 2011 and quickly established himself as a stand-out performer. Bagdonas delighted the team's title sponsor at Rás Tailteann, known that year as An Post Rás, with wins on stages two and four on his way to the overall victory. He won a stage and also the overall at Ronde de l'Oise before taking his second Lithuanian National Time Trial Championships title. He rounded out a fine year with victory on stage seven ahead of a high-quality field at the 2011 Tour of Britain.[18]
An Post also signed the promising Irish sprinter Sam Bennett who quickly showed his quality with second place on stage one of An Post Rás. The future winner of stages at all three Grand Tour races would take his first victory for the team at Grote Prijs Stad Geel.[19] Andrew Fenn took a stage at Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste and won the one-day race Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo.[20] Nico Eeckhout had a quieter season, his sole victory coming early in the season at Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Mark McNally claimed overall victory at the Mi-août en Bretagne.[21] [22]
The team name changed to An Post–Sean Kelly for the 2012 season.
Gediminas Bagdonas was again the most successful rider, taking nine victories in the season. These included his first Lithuanian National Road Race Championships title, three stages and the overall victory at the Baltic Chain Tour, two stages of An Post Rás and victories in the one-day Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo and Ronde van Noord-Holland races. He also came 59th in the 2012 Olympic Games road race, finished 3rd in his national time trial championships and took the points jersey at An Post Rás.
Nico Eeckhout scored one-day wins at Omloop der Kempen and Schaal Sels, and Roy Jans claimed the Kattekoers. Kenneth Vanbilsen took the win at Ronde van Vlaanderen U23 representing the Belgian National Team.[23]
Bagdonas left the team at the end of 2012, joining .[24]
The SKT team was UCI ranked 31st out of 125 teams at the end of the 2009 UCI Europe Tour season with 481 points. The team was ranked 46th out of 110 teams on the UCI Europe Tour rankings for 2010 with 314 points. It improved ranking to 21st out of 114 teams in 2011 with 648 points, with the team's highest points scorers being Mark McNally with 125 and Andrew Fenn, who scored 122. The team had their best ever season in 2012, finishing 16th out of 125 teams in the final rankings on 879 points. Gediminas Bagdonas was the team's highest points scorer with 346 points, a tally that was good enough to put him in tenth place in the individual standings. Niko Eeckhout contributed 187 points to the tally, while Kenneth Vanbilsen scored 131. In 2013 the team finished 28th overall with a total of 341 points.
As at 31 December 2017