An Post–Chain Reaction

Team information
UCI code	SKT
Registered	Merchtem, Flanders, Belgium
Founded	2006 (2006)
Disbanded	2017
Discipline(s)	Road
Status	UCI Continental
Bicycles	Vitus
Website	Team home page
Key personnel
General manager	Kurt Bogaerts
Team manager(s)	Niko Eeckhout [1]
Team name history
2006 2007 2008–2009 2010–2012 2013–2017	Sean Kelly ACLVB–M Donnelly Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn–M Donnelly–Sean Kelly An Post–M Donnelly–Grant Thornton–Sean Kelly An Post–Sean Kelly An Post–Chain Reaction
Jersey

An Post–Chain Reaction ( UCI team code: SKT) was a UCI continental professional cycling team registered in the Republic of Ireland, based at the Sean Kelly Academy in Merchtem, Flanders. The team participated on the UCI Europe Tour. The squad was managed by Kurt Bogaerts and Sean Kelly with directeur sportif Andy Vanhoudt.

The team was initially registered in Ireland before switching to Belgium between 2010 and 2013 to gain access to races in that region. The team became Irish-registered again in 2014. ^[2] The team disbanded at the end of the 2017 season after failing to find sponsorship.

The team began in 2006 with the name Sean Kelly ACLVB–M Donnelly as the first Irish professional cycling team. Shortly after its launch another Irish continental team was launched, Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn. For the 2007 season, these two teams merged to form the Murphy & Gunn–Newlyn–M Donnelly–Sean Kelly squad. ^{[3] [4]} The team achieved several good results including second overall in the Rás Tailteann with Paídi O'Brien. ^[5] At the end of 2007, it was announced that An Post would replace Murphy & Gunn as main sponsor while Grant Thornton replacing the Newlyn group as a co-sponsor. ^[6]

For the 2008 season, the team became more international with four Belgians, two Britons, one Swede and one German joining the six Irish riders. ^[7]

Daniel Lloyd was the general classification winner and the team was victorious on stage 1, a team time trial, at the 2008 Vuelta a Extremadura. Paidi O'Brien, Benny De Schrooder and Lloyd all wore the leader's jersey during the race, the latter taking overall victory by 36 seconds. ^{[8] [9]}

2008 also saw overall victories for Stephen Gallagher at the FBD Insurance Ras in Ireland and Daniel Fleeman at the Tour des Pyrénées which raced from France to Spain. ^[10] Lloyd and Fleeman left the team after the 2008 season, both joining Cervélo TestTeam. ^[11]

The team took six professional victories in 2009. Five of those victories were taken by Niko Eeckhout with three stage and two one-day race wins. Steven Van Vooren took the other with overall victory at Ronde de l'Oise. ^[12]

The team claimed their first national championship in 2010 with Matt Brammeier taking the first of his four consecutive victories in the Irish National Cycling Championships road race. Nico Eeckhout took stage wins in the Ronde de l'Oise and Etoile de Bessèges, and Mark Cassidy and David O'Loughlin both won a stage at the FBD Insurance Ras. ^[13]

Lithuanian rider Gediminas Bagdonas joined the team for 2011 and quickly established himself as a stand-out performer. Bagdonas delighted the team's title sponsor at Rás Tailteann, known that year as An Post Rás, with wins on stages two and four on his way to the overall victory. He won a stage and also the overall at Ronde de l'Oise before taking the first of his three Lithuanian National Time Trial Championships titles. He rounded out a fine year with victory on stage seven ahead of a high-quality field at the 2011 Tour of Britain. ^[14]

An Post signed the promising Irish sprinter Sam Bennett who quickly showed his quality with second place on stage one of An Post Rás. The future holder of wins at all three Grand Tour races would take his first victory for the team at Grote Prijs Stad Geel. ^[15] Andrew Fenn took a stage at Le Tour de Bretagne Cycliste and won the one-day race Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo. ^[16] Nico Eeckhout had a quieter season, his sole victory coming early in the season at Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Mark McNally claimed overall victory at the Mi-août en Bretagne. ^{[17] [18]}

The SKT team was UCI ranked 31st out of 125 teams at the end of the 2009 UCI Europe Tour season with 481 points. The team was ranked 46th out of 110 teams on the UCI Europe Tour rankings for 2010 with 314 points. It improved ranking to 21st out of 114 teams in 2011 with 648 points, with the team's highest points scorers being Mark McNally with 125 and Andrew Fenn, who scored 122. The team had their best ever season in 2012, finishing 16th out of 125 teams in the final rankings on 879 points. Gediminas Bagdonas was the team's highest points scorer with 346 points, a tally that was good enough to put him in tenth place in the individual standings. Niko Eeckhout contributed 187 points to the tally, while Kenneth Vanbilsen scored 131. In 2013 the team finished 28th overall with a total of 341 points.

As at 31 December 2017

Rider Date of birth   Jonas Bokeloh ( GER) (1996-03-16)16 March 1996 (aged 21)   Daniel Gardner ( GBR) (1996-03-06)6 March 1996 (aged 21)   Regan Gough ( NZL) (1996-10-06)6 October 1996 (aged 21)   Davy Gunst ( NED) (1995-01-30)30 January 1995 (aged 22)   Conor Hennebry ( IRL) (1993-02-16)16 February 1993 (aged 24)   Adam Jamieson ( CAN) (1996-02-12)12 February 1996 (aged 21)   Przemysław Kasperkiewicz ( POL) (1994-03-01)1 March 1994 (aged 23)   Sean MacKinnon ( CAN) (1995-11-24)24 November 1995 (aged 22)

Rider Date of birth   Sean McKenna ( IRL) (1994-03-08)8 March 1994 (aged 23)   Albert Muela Galvez ( ESP) (1996-05-13)13 May 1996 (aged 21)   Jacob Scott ( GBR) (1995-06-14)14 June 1995 (aged 22)   Damien Shaw ( IRL) (1984-07-10)10 July 1984 (aged 33)   Mark Stewart ( GBR) (1995-08-25)25 August 1995 (aged 22)   Matthew Teggart ( IRL) (1996-01-08)8 January 1996 (aged 21)   Bas Tietema ( NED) (1995-01-29)29 January 1995 (aged 22)   Massimo Vanderaerden ( BEL) (1995-01-21)21 January 1995 (aged 22)

2010

Ireland Road Race Matt Brammeier

2011

Lithuania Time Trial Gediminas Bagdonas

2012

Lithuania Road Race Gediminas Bagdonas

2013

Ireland Under-23 Road Race Jack Wilson

2014

Ireland Under-23 Time Trial Ryan Mullen

Ireland Road Race Ryan Mullen

Ireland Under-23 Road Race Ryan Mullen

2015

Ireland Time Trial Ryan Mullen

Lithuania Road Race Aidis Kruopis

2017

New Zealand Under-23 Time Trial, Regan Gough

New Zealand Under-23 Road Race, Regan Gough

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