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Ambitious An Post Chain Reaction Team Completes Glittering Rás Line-up
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| Damien Shaw, An Post Chain Reaction |
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| Jack Wilson, An Post Chain Reaction |
The An Post Chain Reaction team which will chase success in this year’s An Post Rás has been revealed, with general manager Kurt Bogaerts confirming that two Irishmen, two Belgians and a Kiwi will represent the team’s hopes in the race.
National champion Damien Shaw and Jack Wilson are the home riders, while the Belgians Nicolas Vereecken and Emiel Wastyn and New Zealand’s Aaron Gate complete the squad.
The team has a strong history in the race, with multiple stage wins and overall victory in 2008 and 2011. They were one of the most dominant in last year’s edition and Bogaerts anticipates another strong showing, although his selection was complicated in recent weeks due to injuries.
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Phoenix 2016 Rás Team The Riders Can't Wait To Get Started
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| Cormac McCann Team Manager |
The worst week of a big stage race is the week before it starts.
Our riders are keen and excited to get to the start line of the An Post Rás in Dublin Castle this Sunday.
For each of them the 8 day race will give them every chance to prove their courage, fitness and tenacity as they pit themselves against an International field of professionals and the best amateur riders in Ireland. More>>>
Strong Irish National Team Announced For An Post Rás, Eddie Dunbar Amongst Those Making Race Debut
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| Eddie Dunbar, Ireland |
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| Mark Downey, Ireland |
The long awaited return of the Irish national team to An Post Rás has been boosted with confirmation that one of Ireland’s top young talents, Eddie Dunbar, will make his debut in this year’s event.
Dunbar is one of five riders named in the team along with fellow youngsters Chris McGlinchey, Mark Downey and Matthew Teggart, as well as the experienced Ronan McLaughlin.
McLaughlin went extremely close to a Rás stage win in Buncrana in 2012, riding solo out front for 70 kilometres before being caught inside the final 200 metres. He spent several seasons racing with the Irish-sponsored, An Post Sean Kelly team and will have a vital role as road captain, guiding the other four. More>>>
New Zealand To Send Medal-Winning Line-Up To An Post Rás
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| Hayden Roulston, New Zealand |
With the countdown to the 2016 An Post Rás drawing ever closer, the New Zealand national team have today confirmed their entry in to this year’s race. The squad will join the dozen foreign outfits already announced in what looks to be one of the strongest editions of the race to date.
The riders selected as part of the Kiwi squad will form part of a serious push for success at the track events at this summer’s Olympic Games. They include Hayden Roulston, a multiple national champion who raced as a pro on the Cervélo Test Team, HTC Highroad, Radioshack Nissan and Trek Factory Racing squads. The experienced 35 year-old is a past Tour of Poland stage winner and took silver and bronze medals on the track at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
His An Post Rás team-mates include Regan Gough, Dylan Kennett and Pieter Bulling, who were part of the gold medal-winning team pursuit at the 2015 world track championships. Gough also won the points and madison races at the 2014 World Junior Track Championships. The fifth member of the team is Nick Kergozou, who previously raced in Ireland at the 2015 An Post Rás and who also won the omnium event at last year’s Dublin Track Cycling International More>>>
Irish Pro Rider Conor Dunne Confirmed To Race An Post Rás Along With Two Top British Team
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| Conor Dunne JLT Condor |
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| Jermey Durrin Neon Velo Team |
Days after arguably the biggest win of his career, Irish professional cyclist, Conor Dunne, has been confirmed to compete in this year’s An Post Rás, at the helm of the British JTL Condor squad.
Dunne announced himself in style in his first Rás, in 2013, while guesting with the Carrick Iverk squad, winning stage one and taking the yellow jersey as race leader. He returned to the UCI ranked event last May while in the second year of a contract with the An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly squad. Dunne finished 7th and 8th on stages and 12th overall, then took bronze in the Irish Road Race Championships just over a month later.
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Strong British Teams Add To Impressive An Post Rás Line-Up
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| Rob Partridge NFTO, 3rd. 2008 & 4th. Overall 2015 |
There will be a strong British challenge at this year’s An Post Rás with the announcement today that the NFTO (Not for the Ordinary) and Madison Genesis Continental teams have both confirmed their participation in the UCI race beginning on May 22nd.
The NFTO team will be well known to Irish cycling fans, being the squad that national road race championship runner-up Eddie Dunbar competed with in 2015. Dunbar has since moved to a US based squad, but NFTO’s line-up includes some other very promising talent.
Josh Edmondson has been identified as one of the best young climbers in British cycling and backed up Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome during a two year stint with Team Sky in 2013 and 2014. He raced with the Irish An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly squad last season and finished a superb second in An Post Rás. Edmondson also impressively won the general classification in the Ronde de l'Oise plus a stage in the Tour of Azerbaijan.
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| Joshua Edmomdson NFTO , 2nd. Overall 2015 Rás |
He will be joined by Rás veteran Rob Partridge, who led the King of the Mountains classification for several days and finished fourth overall in the 2015 An Post Rás.
“The leaders are Josh and Rob,” states NFTO directeur sportif Tom Barras. “We can expect stage wins and a challenge for the overall.”
The duo will be backed by sprinters Liam Stones and Alex Harvey, as well as recent Noel Jones Road Race winner George Fowler. The riders have spent time in Spain and Belgium as part of their build-up and will fine-tune their preparation with a number of British domestic events.
The Madison Genesis team has already had a taste of An Post Rás success, with former team rider Liam Holohan winning the
penultimate stage in 2014 and taking second in last year’s King of the Mountains classification. This time around the team will be led by Erick Rowsell and Matt Holmes. Rowsell won the King of the Mountains in last year’s Ride London Surrey Classic and was best Briton and eighth overall in the 2015 Tour of Yorkshire.
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French And German Squads Return To Add To Sterling Line-Up For An Post Rás
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| Alexis Dulin, Amical Velo Club Aix- En- Provence |
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| Timo Schafer Bike Aid Germany |
As the countdown continues towards the May 22nd start of An Post Rás, a further two international teams have been confirmed for the UCI world-ranked event.
The France Amical Vélo Club Aix-en-Provence and Germany Stradalli - Bike Aid have announced their provisional line-up. They join previously confirmed teams from Australia, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and the USA. The French and German line-ups will further raise the standard of racing on the eight day event, which is Ireland’s toughest and most prestigious cycling race.
France Amical Vélo Club Aix-en-Provence will feature five riders, namely Florent Castellarnau, Grégoire Tarride, Matthieu Converset, Alexis Dulin and Loïck Lebouvier. Castellarnau is the past winner of races such as Monaco – La Turbie, while Tarride has picked up stages wins in the Vuelta Madrid and the Tour d’Alsace. Dulin is the most successful, in terms of the number of wins: his victories include the Trophée Roger Walkowiak, which celebrates the career of the winner of the 1956 Tour de France. He also took the Circuit de la Drôme and the Boucles du Haut-Var. Lebouvier is a past winner of a stage in the Tour d’Auvergne. Converset is the oldest of the five at 28 years of age, and has won a stage plus the overall in the Tour du Pays Roannais. More>>>
2014 An Post Rás Winner Clemens Fankhauser Tirol Austria Plus Team Join-S De Rijke Holland Confirmed For This Year’s An Post Rás
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| Clemens Fankhauser,Tirol Cycling Austria With The George Plant Trophy After He Won The 2014 An Post Rás |
Fankhauser has rejoined the Austria Tirol Cycling Team, with which he won An Post Rás in 2014 and is in superb form in the build up to the 2016 event. He finished second in the most difficult stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali last month, as well as taking 12th place overall. Most recently, he placed fifth in the 1.2-ranked GP Adria Mobil last Sunday. The 30 year-old is continuing to improve in the sport and must be regarded as a major favourite to lift the trophy
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Australian National Team And Danish Riwal Platform Squad For An Post Rás
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| Daniel Fitter Australia |
Following on from last week’s announcement of the first two teams to be announced for this year’s An Post Rás, the Australian Continental squad Cisco RT and the American CCB International squad, two more international outfits have confirmed their participation.
The UCI world-ranked race will include the Australian national team and the UCI Continental-level Riwal Platform squad from Denmark. Both will travel prior to the start of the gruelling eight day event, which rolls out of Dublin castle on Sunday, May 22nd.
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| Jonas Aaen Jorgensen |
The Australian national selection will be finalised in the run up to the event, but at this point in time Cycling Australia’s Under 23 Men’s National Road Coach James Victor has named the most likely riders to take four out of the available five slots.
These include Alistair Donohoe, who is a past world road and track paracyclist. The 20 year -old has limited use in his right arm, leading to him to compete in the C5 paracycling category, but he also races strongly in regular cycling events. He was part of the Australian team in the under 23 road race at cycling’s World Road Race Championships in Richmond in September 2015.
Donohoe is in his first year racing with the Australian Under 23 National Team in Europe. This is also the case with the other three riders who are provisionally named for An Post Rás, 19 year-old duo Daniel Fitter and Lucas Hamilton, plus 18 year-old Michael Storer.
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Strong American And Australian Teams For An Post Rás 2016
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| Thomas Hubbard, Cisco RT Australia |
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| Cory Small, CCB International USA |
With a little under two months to go until the start of the 2016 An Post Rás, the first two international teams have been unveiled.
An Post Rás Race Director, Tony Campbell has confirmed that the Australian Continental squad Cisco RT and the American CCB International squad will both travel for the prestigious event, which is the toughest Irish cycling race on the calendar.
Cisco RT hails from Brisbane and its riders regularly compete against those from the well-known Drapac Pro Cycling, Avanti and Budget Forklifts squads.
In its tenth year of existence, the team is bringing a squad of seven to eight riders to Europe in early April. They will compete in four 1.2-ranked races in the Netherlands prior to An Post Rás and those events should have the riders in top condition at the start in Dublin Castle.
“The team will have overall general classification goals and this will require some top stage performances,” said team manager Terence Bonner. “We will also either target the sprint or King of the Mountains jersey, depending on how the first couple of stages unfold.” More>>>
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