Cycling Reports

McCann Turns Professional

By Gerard Cromwell (Mar 9) Poland may not be a country that springs to mind when one thinks of the world of professional cycling, yet it has a healthy number of pro teams and riders and has long been regarded as a nation of strong, hard-men cyclists.

If you browse through the list of riders on the Polish professional squads for this season, you will notice among the Szafranski’s, Rosolinski’s and Rebeiewski’s a very un-Polish sounding name; that of David McCann.

McCann is from Belfast and is the current Irish National Road Race Champion. The 27 year old has just signed his first professional contract with the CCC-Mat team in Warsaw and is looking forward to his first season as a professional. So how does an Irish champion end up riding for a Polish team?

“It came about through a Polish teammate of mine at Perpignan in France,” says McCann, who finished last season as the 14th highest ranked amateur in the world, “he recommended me to the manager of CCC-Mat, Andrzej Sypytkowski and he obviously respected his opinion and eventually signed me.”

McCann has earned a deal with the second division team after a very impressive season at home and abroad. The Phoenix CC rider was based in France for much of the 2000 season, with the Perpignon–Rousillon team and indeed finished the season as the number one ranked amateur in France.

After racing in France, Spain and America for the early part of the season, McCann came home for the 9-day FBD Milk Ras in May and immediately stamped his authority on the event. Riding for the Derry team, McCann won a stage, was second twice and third on two more, culminating in his going home with both the green Points jersey and the polka- dot King of the Mountains jersey. If he had made the all-important breakaway on stage one which took over four minutes on the rest of the field, (McCann missed the move - partially due to jet lag as he had only just returned from racing in the U.S.A a few days previous) then he may have had to make room in his wardrobe for the yellow jersey of Ras winner too.

His impressive ride in the Ras and his fine solo stage win in the UCI ranked Tour of Guadaloupe earned him the second and final slot on the Irish team at the Sydney Olympics, alongside Linda McCartney professional Ciaran Power.

McCann has already been to Poland to sign contracts and meet his new teammates. He was impressed by the set-up and the friendliness of the squad - despite the obvious language barrier. The team was equally impressed with the fact that McCann wanted to sign for a Polish team in the first place. “The team were very friendly.” says the Northerner, “Most of the riders speak French, so they translated the Polish into French for me. Czesary Zamana and the team manager both speak a bit of English. They were delighted that somebody wanted to come to Poland to race. Years ago, riders had to defect in order to race professionally. My new teammate and former Polish champion, Czesary Zamana actually defected to America to race about ten years ago!”

But Poland is a far cry from Belfast, how will the youngster adapt? “I’ve raced all over the world at this stage,” says McCann, “so nothing really surprises me any more. Poland has come a long way in the last ten years. It’s a bit like Malaysia, there is a lot of wealth, but there is a lot of poverty too. It’s also become more westernised, they have McDonald’s now!” he laughs.

McCann will have the honour of being the first ever wearer of the Irish national champion’s jersey in the professional peleton, having won the title in Cork last July. “Yeah, the team are making me some new jerseys with the logo on them.” he says “It’s actually good because the team’s logo is orange and the jersey is white with green shamrocks, so now it’ll look a bit more Irish. People are always asking me where the jersey is from. They don’t recognise the shamrocks as being Irish. I think the jersey should be more like the other national champion’s jerseys, with the colours of the flag on it. That’s the international symbol. At least now, I suppose it will be green, white and orange anyway.”

The CCC-Mat squad has eighteen riders and will be split in two for the season, with one half of the squad based in Lugano, Switzerland and the other half in Warsaw. McCann is aiming to get on the ‘A’ squad and hopes to be able to show his form during the season. “ Last years winner of the Tour of Poland is the team leader. I think the team is like all teams, if you work for the team and show a bit of form, you will get your chance.”

McCann leaves for Valencia and a months training camp with CCC-Mat this week. He then goes to Switzerland to ride his first race as a professional. With the FBD Milk Ras now on the UCI calendar - making it more attractive to professional squads - he may find himself back home in May as a serious contender for overall glory. “The team has expressed a keen interest in riding the Ras this year,” says McCann “Obviously it would be great for me to ride in my home country as a professional and as Irish champion. It just depends on the race organiser, whether he wants to see the Irish champion race as a pro in his national tour, or whether he considers us too strong for the race.”

McCann began his pro career with races in Switzerland and Italy this week