Daniel McLay

Daniel McLay
	McLay, Nice, Paris-Nice, 2023.
Personal information
Born	3 January 1992 (age 32); Wellington, New Zealand
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb; 11.7 st)
Team information
Current team	Arkéa–B&B Hotels
Disciplines	Road; Track; Cyclo-cross;
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Amateur teams
2008	Leicestershire Road Club
2009	Univega.co.uk
2011–2014	Omega Pharma–Lotto Davo
Professional teams
2015–2017	Bretagne–Séché Environnement
2018–2019	EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale
2020–	Arkéa–Samsic
Major wins
	One-day races and Classics GP de Denain (2016) Tour de l'Eurométropole (2017)

Daniel "Dan" McLay (born 3 January 1992) is a British racing cyclist, competing in road, track and cyclo-cross, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Arkéa–B&B Hotels.^[4] His first season as a professional was 2015, racing for French pro-continental and 2014 Tour de France wildcard outfit Bretagne–Séché Environnement. Primarily a sprinter, McLay is also competent in the Flemish racing scene and has a particular affinity to the Northern Classics. He was named in the start list for the 2016 Tour de France.^[5]

Career

Junior career

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, McLay moved to the United Kingdom as an infant and was brought up in Leicester. McLay began cycling competitively at the age of six. Following his success as under 16 rider at the British National Track Championships, he represented Great Britain at the 2007 European Youth Olympic Festival,^[6] competing in the criterium and road race events.^[7] He says ^[8] that he was not very good at sports that require coordination as a school-boy and thus this fuelled his desire to continue competing in cycling.^{[citation needed]}

McLay was selected to represent Britain at the Junior European Cyclo-cross Championships in 2008, where he finished last.^[9]

In 2009, McLay became a member of British Cycling's Olympic Academy.^[10] McLay went on to win the bronze medal in the Madison at the UEC European Track Championships with partner Sam Harrison. He also represented Great Britain at the 2009 Junior UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.^[11]

In 2010 he became World Champion in the Junior World Madison Track Championships, with Simon Yates.^[12]

In 2014 he won a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir (English: The Tour of the Future). He also came seventh in Tour of Britain stages, a strong showing given that sprinters such as Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, Mark Renshaw and Adam Blythe were also competing, although he said that seventh was not a representation of what he could have achieved.^{[citation needed]}

Professional career

Bretagne–Séché Environnement (2015–17)

He signed for the Bretagne–Séché Environnement professional continental team for the 2015 season.^[13] He won his first professional victory in Stage 3 of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.^[14] In the first UCI World Tour race of his career, Paris–Nice, McLay came eighth in stage 5.^[15]

His second professional win came at the 2016 Grand Prix de Denain, a French 1.HC race, weaving his way from distance through the centre of the bunch to win it on the line.^[16] His second win came a month later in the Grand Prix de la Somme, beating Nacer Bouhanni into 2nd place.^[17] Due to those two wins, McLay was selected to take part in his first Tour de France, and finished in the Top 10 in his first sprint finish.^[18] After another two top 10 finishes, McLay finished on the podium on Stage 6 behind Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel.^[19]

In October 2017 McLay won the Tour de l'Eurométropole, pipping Anthony Turgis to the line after Turgis started his celebration early following a solo attack from the front group.^[20]

EF Education First–Drapac (2018–19)

After his Tour de l'Eurométropole win, it was announced that McLay would join the WorldTour peloton by signing with EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale for the 2018 season.^[21]