The Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team continues to round out its roster for 2017 onward, and in doing so welcomes three new riders and three managers, all from the Drapac Professional Cycling team.
 
Riders Tom Scully, Brendan Canty, and Will Clarke will ride for the squad for 2017. Tom Southam will serve as a director sportif; Jonathan Breekveldt will head up management at the team’s European headquarters, and Keith Flory will be the team’s performance director.

“Teams are deciding what they’re going try and be for the upcoming season at this time of year. We’re no different. We’ve added some bigger guys for the classics like Sep and Taylor,” said Jonathan Vaughters, team manager. “And now with the Drapac guys coming in, we’re going after both depth and development.

“Scully and Canty are greener riders we hope to bring along. Clarke has raced at the highest level before and has won some races with the Drapac team already. They should all fit into what we do nicely. The management coming over to the team will help us in myriad areas: on the road, in coaching and training, and in operations.”
 
Drapac Capital Partners and Slipstream Sports, the group that manages Cannondale-Drapac, announced a partnership in the spring regarding a development team, Drapac-Pat’s Veg, that requires riders to pursue university degrees or professional certifications in addition to racing on the UCI Continental level. Just prior to the Tour de France, Drapac and Slipstream announced a larger partnership, on the WorldTour level, the Cannondale-Drapac Professional Cycling Team. The roster moves are a continuation of this partnership.

Will Clarke – Tasmania, Australia 
Clarke, a time trialist, has ridden for both the LEOPARD TREK and Argos-Shimano outfits, and did time as a stagiaire for AG2R La Mondiale, all before the last three seasons at Drapac. The 31-year-old Tasmanian won a stage at the Santos Tour Down Under in 2012, and multiple stages at the Tour of Japan, Herald Sun Tour and the Tour de Taiwan. The chance at this second trip to the World Tour isn’t lost on him. 
 
“I am looking forward to having the chance to participate in the WorldTour again, and also be a part of Drapac’s journey to the highest level of the sport,” Clarke said. “I would like to win some races and help the team win races. I would also like to ride a grand tour, which I still have not done yet.”
 
Southam said Clarke was Drapac Professional Cycling Team’s most prolific winner behind Wouter Wippert, who also rides for Cannondale-Drapac.
 
“Will’s a popular rider here in Australia, but I don’t think he’d really clicked the first time round in Europe,” Southam said. “Guys don’t often get second chances, which I think can be a mistake, as you don’t make the same choices when you are 30 as you would when you’re 20. He’s been our most prolific winner – apart from Wippi – in the years he’s been with us, and I think that the maturity that he has developed physically and mentally will be able to be put to good use in the coming seasons.”

Tom Scully – Invercargill, New Zealand 
The 26-year-old Kiwi will make a second appearance with a Vaughters-affiliated team. He rode as a stagiaire for Garmin-Sharp in 2012, and the Chipotle-First Solar Development Team in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
 
“I’m most looking forward to racing bikes alongside and against the best bike riders in the world, all around the world,” Scully said. “I’m also looking forward to learning what I can from staff and riders, as most of them will have been there and done it all before at the WorldTour level.
 
“Personally my goals will align 100 percent with whatever the team’s goals may be on any particular day,” he added. “It’s early days yet, but I would like to start things off with some strong performances at the New Zealand Nationals in January and build from there.”
 
Scully dreams of the monuments.
 
“I like the epics — 2016 Roubaix for example, that was a real dogfight amongst the strong men of world cycling. That is what dreams are made of,” he said.
 
Southam, on Scully: “Tom was a guy that we’d been chasing to come to Drapac for a number of years. His results were excellent at U23 level and he had pedigree on the track. When he came to the team this year and I saw the way that he worked and how well he could apply himself to the roles that I gave him in races, I was really impressed. I like working with Kiwis a lot, they are no nonsense hard workers who aren’t there to mess around. He has the potential to develop in to a strong all round rider and play a number of key roles within the team on the road.”
 
Brendan Canty – Eltham, Australia 
Canty, 24, comes to Cannondale-Drapac after three years with the Drapac franchise and one with Budget Forklifts. He brings with him general classification abilities, which were on full display when he won the white jersey at the Tour of Oman in 2016.
 
“It’s definitely a very exciting time for me, and I think there’s plenty to look forward to heading into 2017. It’s a dream to be a part of a WorldTour team competing at the highest level of the sport, and I can’t wait for things to get started,” Canty said. “It’s a little crazy to think where I started a few years ago in my first road race, and the situation I am currently in. We haven’t sat down yet to talk through my schedule for 2017, but they tend to change anyway. No doubt there will be many races and various opportunities, and I really want to embrace what will be the biggest and hardest season of my career to date.”

Southam, on Canty: “Brendan is a talented kid. He has come a long way in a very short space of time. We had him do a few races for us back in 2014, but we wanted him to develop a little more before we threw him in at Pro Conti level. He has been racing competitively for a few short years and his potential is still huge. Winning the best young rider jersey in Oman put him on a few people’s radar, but I would point to his win in stage three of the Tour of Austria as the most important indicator that he actually has capacity to turn potential into a successful career.”

Tom Southam

Incoming sport director, Tom Southam, is a former professional racer from the United Kingdom. The 35-year-old represented Great Britain at five world championships and rode for Amore e Vita, Barloworld and Rapha-Condor, among other teams.
 
“Tom has all the qualities to be a great leader.  He has a natural knack for understanding people and this, together with his keen sense of intuition, mean that any group will be inspired and galvanized by his input,” said Cannondale-Drapac head sport director Charly Wegelius. “Not only does Tom understand strategy, but he has the skill to communicate the message in any situation, and this is key for a DS.”
 
Southam: “The two years that I spent with Drapac as head sports director were extremely insightful, as it was the first time that I had the responsibilities that I’ve had here, and I’m proud of what was achieved in a short space of time. I’ve obviously worked with the three Drapac guys closely over this year, as well as Wouter (Wippert) in 2015, and Hugh Carthy before he went to Caja Rural. As such I’m especially pleased to have the opportunity to work in a new environment that I believe can get the best out of these guys.”
 
Jonathan Breekveldt
Breekveldt, 30, is the current general manager of Drapac Professional Cycling, and he’s been with the team since 2010. Prior to that, Breekveldt was a project engineer with the Ford Motor Company. He will take a management position with the Cannondale-Drapac team in Europe.
 
“When I first met Michael Drapac in 2010, and then joined what was then the UCI Continental Drapac Professional Cycling, he outlined his goal of reaching the Tour de France and I was immediately onboard and committed to helping this vision become a reality,” Breekveldt said.

“We took a big step forward in 2014, returning the team to Pro Continental and now in 2017 becoming a part of a WorldTour team and reaching one of Michael’s goals. For me it marks the beginning of a new role within a significantly bigger organization where I will look to bring both my experience from Ford and Drapac, whilst looking to draw on the experience of Jonathan Vaughters and the continued guidance of Michael and the team at Drapac.”
 
Keith Flory
Flory began working with Drapac in 2014, by way of British Cycling (eight years) and the UCI’s World Cycling Centre (four years), where he helped tool coaching programs. Flory will serve as the team’s performance director, bridging the gaps between athletes, coaches, and management.
 
“To move over to the Cannondale-Drapac is an honor and presents a hugely exciting opportunity to work with some of the best athletes in the world, on one of the best teams,” Flory said. “It is also special to be part of the continued journey that Michael Drapac set out to me when I first joined the Drapac team.”
 
“I hope to bring a variety of knowledge and experience to Cannondale-Drapac, which I’ve gained from a whole host of sources in and outside of professional cycling,” Flory added. “There is a lot of natural talent across the team and I’ll be looking to add value to the athletes ongoing support system, reaching even higher levels of performance.”