British teenager Alex Braybrooke is to swap Belgium for the south of France in 2017, having signed for French DN1 team AVC Aix-en-Provence.
Braybrooke spent 2016 racing for Lotto-Soudal U23, the feeder outfit to the WorldTour team. He lived and raced alongside James Shaw who enjoyed a successful stagiaire-ship with Lotto-Soudal and subsequently signed a two-year professional contract with them.
Due to the U23 team reducing the size of its squad, however, Braybrooke was forced to look for another team and he has been recruited by AVC - a year after he chose Lotto-Soudal over them.
"I almost signed for them last year and they have been really good with me since I have got back in contact with them. I'm looking forward to it," the 19-year-old told Cycling Weekly.
As a junior, he courted a lot of interest with his results for the HMT Academy team, including coming second at the Junior Tour of the Basque Country and winning the Signal d'Écouves in 2015.
The 2016 season was about settling into a new country and a new way of racing and he performed admirably until a broken arm suffered in a crash in September ended his season prematurely.
His race calendar in 2017 will consist of a number of stage races in France, UCI 1.2 and 2.2 races, U23 races in Italy, and Coupe de France events.
"The team raced in a couple of big stage races this year - the Tour du Loir et Cher, the Tour du Pays de Savoie and Tour of Alsace - and they are races that in the future I think I can do well in," he added.
"By the end of this season I felt stronger in races and hopefully I can carry that onto next year and use this year's experiences to be competitive.
"I gained a lot of experience from racing in Belgium and I enjoyed it a lot. France is a different scene but hopefully being one year stronger and wiser I can push on next year.
"It'll be a little different to Lotto in that there are older riders on the team, but they are one of the best DN1 teams that are focused on development."
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
-
-
Dr Hutch: WLTM someone to join him on long rides
Doctor Hutch leaves sightseeing for others and dedicates his long rides to the pursuit of solitary suffering. But now he’s looking for ride-mates - A GSOH is a must
-
Carolin Schiff makes huge solo effort to take victory at women's Unbound Gravel 200
German off-road pro takes a massive solo victory at gravel's premiere event, Unbound
-
‘Current WorldTour system is killing all the smaller teams,’ says Reinardt Janse van Rensburg
South African ex-Lotto Soudal rider fears more teams could find themselves in B & B Hotels-KTM situation if the system doesn’t change
-
Caleb Ewan ‘not going anywhere’ after team's relegation, says Lotto-Soudal
Spokesperson for Belgian team says that Ewan has expressed desire to stay and lead the team in 2023
-
‘It's not been a great Tour for the sprinters’ - Caleb Ewan rues bad luck at the Tour de France after heavy crash on stage 13
Lotto Soudal sprinter involved in nasty crash with a teammate midway through stage into Saint-Étienne
-
'I’m still having to pinch myself a little bit, what a ride!' : Reinardt Janse van Rensburg’s journey to a sixth Tour de France
The 33 year old South African rider feared his career was over before Lotto Soudal came calling.
-
Lotto Soudal pins Tour de France hopes on 'one of the fastest riders of the peloton', Caleb Ewan
Caleb Ewan, Philippe Gilbert, Andreas Kron and Tim Wellens all make the team's Tour de France lineup
-
Racing every race like it's the last of the season: how smaller teams are overperforming this year
Lotto-Soudal and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux have won 11 races between them in 2022 after just 21 in all of last year, so what's going on?
-
Meet Florian Vermeersch, the history student and local councillor who finished second at Paris-Roubaix
The Lotto Soudal rider on living up to new expectations, the new approach of his team, and how time trialling helps in the Classics
-
Paris-Roubaix runner-up Florian Vermeersch posts incredible ride to Strava
The 22-year-old Belgian put in an astonishing ride on his 'Hell of the North' debut
