THREE STRONG IRISH TEAMS TO LEAD HOME HOPES IN FBD INSURANCE RÁS

A star-studded field of 140 riders from Ireland, Iran, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Holland, Poland, Norway, the Isle of Man and Britain will face the starter when the FBD INSURANCE RÁS 8 Day International Cycle Race gets underway from Navan on Sunday (18th May). Poland and the Netherlands are represented by their Beijing Olympics bound squads while twice RÁS winner Ciarán Power will lead Team Pezula, one of the two Irish pro teams in the race. 2004 winner David McCann heads a very strong Irish national team consisting of Paul Griffin, Roger Aiken, Michael Concannon and Robin Seymour.

The British challenge is packed with riders of the highest order. The powerful British pro team Stena Rapha-Condor ReCycling.co.uk includes former World Track Champion and twice RÁS winner Chris Newton and 2006 RÁS winner Kristian House. Simon Richardson heads a second British pro team, Plowman Craven. The Isle of Man and three regional squads complete the power of Britain.

While the strongest challenge to an Irish win will come from Poland, Britain, and the Netherlands the Bulgarians, Norwegians and French teams field riders well capable of taking number one spot when the eight days of racing ends in Skerries on Sunday week. Morten Hegreberg riding with the Norwegian pro team Sparebanken Vest finished 3rd overall in 2005 and again a year later only 12 seconds adrift from winner Kristian House. His team wasn’t in last year’s race but his form this season and experience ensures another top placing for the big Norwegian.

Iran is represented by Azad University professional team. The team is very well known and competes at a high level on the Asian circuit and will definitely be a force to be reckoned with, the team leader is 28 year old Amir Zargari. This will be the first time ever for an Iranian cycle racing team to compete in this country and they will be conscious of the profile a win would mean in world cycling.

The Belgium-based An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team will feature Irish riders Paídi O’Brien, Mark Cassidy, Stephen Gallagher and Isaac Speirs, as well as the Belgian Benny de Schrooder.