Dan McLay targeting wins in first year as a pro after joining Bretagne-Seche Environnement

Dan McLay will turn pro with Bretagne-Seche Environnement (Picture: Photo News/Lotto Belisol)

Dan McLay, the 22-year-old English sprinter who will turn professional with French team Bretagne-Seche Environnment next season, says he doesn’t want a bedding-in year and will target wins straight away.

McLay has signed a two-year neo-pro contract with the Brittany-based squad following four years cutting his teeth in the amateur ranks in Belgium with the Lotto Belisol under-23 team.

There was no room for McLay to move up to Lotto Belisol’s pro roster, so he was forced to look elsewhere and last month accepted an offer from Bretagne-Seche Environnement, who race in cycling’s second tier, the Pro Continental Tour.

They were attracted by stage wins at this year’s Tour de Normandie in March and Tour de l’Avenir in August, and both McLay and his new coaches are hoping he can deliver more victories in 2015.

“The most important thing for me is that they are looking at me as someone who can have a shot at winning races,” he told Sky Sports. “That is really significant as a sprinter and as a rider who looks for wins. You can’t stop trying to win for a year.

'Not unrealistic'

“I’m certainly happy to help any other sprinters on the team, but I definitely want a few chances in the year. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to hope to win a race or two next year.”

McLay, who is from just outside Leicester, moved to Belgium as a 19-year-old as he chased his dream of turning professional in one of the sport’s heartlands, mostly outside of the umbrella of British Cycling.

“The way I have learnt my trade is actually the conventional way,” he said. “But it is just that in recent years there have been ‘pathways’ with the national team that other riders have taken. Doing it the way I have has been good. I have learnt a lot that I wouldn’t have if I had done it another way.”

He delivered a steady stream of wins during his time with Lotto Belisol, but a professional deal didn’t materialise until after his high-profile results this year.

The victories at the Tour de Normandie and Tour de l'Avenir came either side of a triumph at the Paris-Arras Tour, before two seventh-place finishes at September's Tour of Britain finally convinced Bretagne-Seche Environnement to make an approach.

'Open mind'

“I’m pretty pleased to have a contract,” he added. “It’s a relief as much as anything. It got a little bit frustrating when it got quite late in the year and I still didn’t have any offers, but I knew I have delivered the results this season and there was not much more I could do.

“I had a pretty open mind about which pro team I joined. It’s always tempting to wait another week and hope one of the big, big teams come along, but I will have a lot of opportunities with this team and they really wanted me, and that was just as important as anything else.

“It’s hard to say whether joining a Pro Continental team will be better or worse than joining a WorldTour. I’m going to have a good race programme next year.”

As a former runner-up in the Junior Paris-Roubaix, McLay has ambitions to challenge for victories in senior one-day Classics, but he admits he may be tempted to pass up the opportunity to ride marquee races in 2015 and instead target smaller events that offer a better chance of winning.

He said. “I want to ride as many of the Classics as possible, but in terms of pinpointing races to target, I am in two minds about whether to train for a really big race and try to get a good result there, or target smaller races and have a better chance of winning. That’s maybe not a bad idea as a first-year pro.”