UCI code SKT Status UCI Continental Website Team home page Bicycle Vitus | Discipline Road Bicycles Vitus Founded 2006 | |
Registered Merchtem, Flanders, Belgium | ||
An Post–Chain Reaction (UCI team code: SKT) is a UCI continental professional cycling team registered in the Republic of Ireland, based at the Sean Kelly Academy in Merchtem, Flanders. The team participates on the UCI Europe Tour. The squad is managed by Kurt Bogaerts and Sean Kelly with directeur sportif Andy Vanhoudt.
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History
The team began in 2006 with the name Sean Kelly ACLVB–M Donnelly as the first Irish professional cycling team. Shortly after its launch another Irish continental team was launched, Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn. For the 2007 season, these two teams merged to form the Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn–M Donnelly–Sean Kelly squad. The team achieved several good results including second overall in the Rás Tailteann with Paídi O'Brien. At the end of 2007, it was announced that An Post would replace Murphy & Gunn as main sponsor while Grant Thornton replacing the Newlyn group as a co-sponsor. For the 2008 season, the team became more international with four Belgians, two Britons, one Swede and one German joining the six Irish riders. The team took its biggest win when Stephen Gallagher won the general classification of the Rás Tailteann. It has also taken overall victories in Vuelta a Extremadura (Daniel Lloyd), Tour des Pyrénées (Daniel Fleeman), and Ronde de l'Oise (Steven Van Vooren).
The team began as an Irish-registered team, becoming Belgian-registered between 2010 and 2013, primarily to gain access to races in Belgium. The team became Irish-registered again in 2014.
UCI Europe Tour
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.
National champions
