Mclay on his big move

British sprinter will ply his trade at EF Education First-drapac next season

Sprinter Dan Mclay announced he will step up to the Worldtour with EF Education First-drapac team (currently Cannondale-drapac) next season following his second longawaited win of 2017.

Mclay, who has spent three years with French team Fortuneo-oscaro, told Cycling Weekly that racing more consistently at a higher level would help him develop, but accepted that, with Rigoberto Urán likely to target the GC at the Tour de France, he was unlikely to ride the season’s biggest race.

“I’d like to ride a Grand Tour next year, I think it brings you on — you get a lot of strength from it every year when it’s possible,” Mclay said.

He added: “Even last year they spoke to me and I was still under contract so it never went any further than that. Then earlier in the year I was speaking to them among other teams but then they had the problem with the sponsor and so it has taken a while to get it sorted.”

The Leicestershire-based rider said that it would be nice to rejoin an Englishspeaking team next season.

Mclay sprinted to victory in Tour de l’eurométropole on Sunday, one of his final races for his current team, as Cofidis rider Anthony Turgis celebrated victory with his hands in the air before he hit the line and finished third.

“It was a nice result. At the back end of the season it’s always good to end on a high or otherwise the season would fizzle out so it was a nice surprise really,” he said.

The win capped off a difficult season for him in which he won two races but had to withdraw from others, including the Tour de France and Paris-nice. He said the year had been both mentally and physically draining. “I can say it seemed to start well with my first few days of racing in Majorca [where he won], I never really got on top of things with injuries and a couple of colds. I was always chasing form and I never got on top of stuff — it’s hard when you don’t find that rhythm,” he said.