France-bound Brennan Townshend keen to make up for lost time

Brennan Townshend is hoping his move across the Channel next year can kick-start his cycling career and inspire race wins.

Townshend announced his decision to ride for Team Hague Cotentin last month after a disrupted year with Madison Genesis.

The 20-year-old missed all of the Tour Series after a knee injury and a bout of the shingles kept him out of the busy back end of the 2013 season.

But the young rider, who will be based in Normandy from January, is confident he has made the right step for his career.

"I really want to win races. The last couple of years I've missed out on those opportunities," said Townshend.

"I had some bad luck in the middle of this season. I lost about five to six weeks and then I lost a lot of form before trying to get that back before the end of the year.

"By October I had made up my mind that I wanted to go to Europe and make it from the there.

"Hague Contentin are a team have a really good race programme, which will help me progress. This was a big factor in helping me make up my mind.

"The move is a sort of step down but I see it as a better move for me to step up in a big way further along the line. I can get more depth of racing in Europe."

Despite the indifferent season on the bike with Madison Genesis, Townshend was full of praise for the outfit and in particular team manager Roger Hammond.

The two-time British road race champion took up the managerial role earlier this year and Townshend turned to him for advice when considering the move to France.

"I actually asked to speak to him at the end of the season as himself rather than my team manager," added Townshend.

"I explained that I was thinking about the move to France and he was really supportive.

"I really enjoyed my time there, everything was really professional and I was given some really good opportunities.

"I was given a coach, Stephen Gallagher, which is something I'd never had before. I'll be keeping him into next year too."