Tour of Utah winner returns to US team as Rally step to Pro Continental ranks
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Rob Britton enjoying his time on the podium
Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) solos to the victory on the final Tour de Beauce stage(Image credit: Rob Jones)
Kyle Murphy (Cylance) putting in a strong ride for sixth place.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Evan Huffman and Rob Britton go one-two for Rally Cycling
Kyle Murphy (Jamis) helps leads todays break(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Tour of Utah winner Rob Britton will return to Rally Cycling next season, the US Continental team confirmed today. Details of Britton's deal are yet to be announced, but Cyclingnews understands the 33-year-old has signed a multi-year deal with the team, which has applied for Pro Continental status. Rally also confirmedthe team has added climber Kyle Murphy from Cylance Cycling.
Britton had one of his best seasons in 2017, winning a stage and the overall at the 2.HC Tour of Utah and also infiltrating multiple breakaways in the WorldTour Tour of California, helping teammate Evan Huffman take two stage wins. Huffman announced signing a two-year extension with Rally earlier this fall.
Britton also finished fourth at the Joe Martin Stage Race in 2017, fifth at the Tour of the Gila won by Huffman, and he blew apart the field on the final stage of the Tour de Beauce, soloing away on the hilly 10-kilometre circuit. Britton finished eighth overall at the 2.1 Tour of Alberta, another race won by Huffman, and he ended his season in September by representing Canada in the elite men's time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.
Britton has ridden with Rally since 2016, following two years with Team SmartStop.
Murphy, 26, comes to Rally from Cylance Cycling, where he competed mostly on the US national calendar, although he ended his season with the team at the Tour of Britain. Murphy rode with Lupus Racing in 2015 before signing on as a trainee with Caja Rural-Seguros at the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado. He moved to Jamis in 2016 and then jumped to Cylance for this season after Jamis folded.
Murphy is a talented all-arounder who was third in the mountains classification at the 2015 race in Colorado. He opened his 2017 season with a win in the uphill time trial at the San Dimas Stage Race, and then finished sixth overall behind Huffman and Britton at Joe Martin.
Murphy was 10th at the Tour of the Gila after finishing eighth in the time trial, and he placed sixth at the US national championships time trial and in the uphill time trial at the Tour of Utah, where he finished 16th overall after he also finished fifth on the summit finish to Snowbasin.
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Britton joins Huffman as the only returning riders Rally has announced so far, while Murphy joins newcomers Nigel Ellsay from Silber Pro Cycling and Robin Carpenter and Ty Magner from Holowesko-Citadel.
Growing up in Missoula, Montana, Pat competed in his first bike race in 1985 at Flathead Lake. He studied English and journalism at the University of Oregon and has covered North American cycling extensively since 2009, as well as racing and teams in Europe and South America. Pat currently lives in the US outside of Portland, Oregon, with his imaginary dog Rusty.
