Matt Brammeier and Mark Cavendish have been friends for a long time before the duo rode for Dimension Data in 2016. The Irishman was with the Manxman in the last year of the HTC Highroad team and the two rode together back on the track when they were growing up, as part of the British Academy. Now Brammeier is looking forward to playing a role in Cavendish’s leadout in 2016.

“I definitely want to get stuck in helping Cav and become an integral part of that team. I’ve done it before and I’ve kind of grown up with Cav doing all the lead-outs with him. We’ve obviously been on teams together in the past and I know what he needs. That’s my biggest goal and what I’m looking forward to the most,” Brammeier told Cyclingnews. 

“In this team, with Cav and the races that we’re doing and now that we’re WorldTour I think that this is where my real value is. Hopefully I can prove that to the team and have a really good year. This is where I want to be for as long as possible. I just have to get my ass in gear and try to do a good job.”

Brammeier has just recovered from a horror crash with a car at the Tour of Utah, which robbed him of his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana. While he still has pain, he was pleased to be able to take part in the team’s training camp in South Africa.