Camperdown cycling export Bailey McDonald heads to Belgium to contest kermesse racing scene

The 20-year-old, who rides for National Road Series team NCMG Criterion Racing in Australia, left for Belgium on Tuesday, where he will contest kermesse races for 10 weeks.

"I'm going over to Belgium where the club racing scene is super strong," McDonald told The Standard.

"It's what's called kermesse racing which is a little bit like circuit racing, so different towns host races and you can sort of race as little or as much as you want. It's just a really good opportunity to gain European experience and get touted by some higher level teams.

"I'll still be representing my team here in Australia but essentially just riding as an individual with the goal of gaining the attention of those scouts from the higher level teams."

McDonald, who now resides in Brisbane, has been in strong form this year, headlined by a third-placed finish in the Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic in January. He said testing himself in Europe had been the plan for some time.

"Off my recent success earlier in the year at the Melbourne to Warrnambool and the like, it was the obvious progression that I need to take that next step and needed to put myself out there at European level," he said.

"This is probably the easiest way to do it, so it's been in the works for a little while now but I can't wait to get over there this week and finally get the racing under way."

McDonald is aiming to clinch a race victory while in Belgium, acknowledging the experience would be a "huge learning curve".

"If I can just learn as much as I can in these earlier races and then hopefully towards the back end of my trip really start achieving some strong results then I think that's a successful outcome," he said.

The former Camperdown College student will remain in Belgium until August where he will commit full-time to cycling.

"I work a couple of days a week here in Brisbane but when I'm in Europe it'll be full-time cycling which will be super nice," he said.

"The kermesse season in Belgium sort of runs from April pretty much all the way through October, with July and August pretty being the strongest months for racing.

"So that's when you'll see bigger fields up to 150 people racing multiple times a week."

McDonald will return to Australia in time for the final rounds of the National Road Series before setting his sights on the Australian national championships in January next year.

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