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Austrian And German Continental Teams Ambitious About Chasing An Post Rás Success
By Rás Admin.
Mar 21, 2014, 06:47
Austrian and German Continental Teams Ambitious About Chasing An Post Rás Success
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| Andre Benoit Quota Germany |
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| Filix Schonbach Quota Germany |
With less than two months to go to the start of the 2014 An Post Rás, two more strong international teams have been confirmed as talking part in this year’s event.
Tirol Cycling from Austria and the Kuota Pro Team from Germany will join the Belgian and New Zealand squads announced last week, and look more than capable of shaping the final outcome of the race.
Tirol Cycling will feature what its Chief Operating Officer Norbert Dürauer describes as “the best under-23 riders from Austria” on its roster. The team previously helped three others to develop and to go on to World Tour level, namely Katusha’s Marco Haller, Cannondale’s Matthias Krizek and Argos Shimano’s Georg Preidler, and aims to do the same with the next wave of riders.
“This is what our team is about,” states Dürauer. “We want to provide them the perfect platform on their way to one of the big teams in our sport. Top resources, scientific-assisted training and an international race schedule are the main contributions to achieve this goal.”
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| Jonas Rapp Quota Germany |
“One of the team’s biggest goals this season is the 2.HC Tour of Austria in July, while An Post Rás is another.
In order to ensure that the team is a force in Ireland, its riders will compete in two important races in Poland, namely the 2.2-ranked Carpathian Couriers and then the 2.1-ranked Piastowskich.
The team will have two road captains, including multiple national championship medallist and two-time Tour de Suisse rider Josef Benetseder. He won the mountains classification in the Tour Austria four years ago and could prove to be one of the best climbers in An Post Rás.
He will be joined by Clemens Fankhauser, who has also competed in the past for a Pro Continental team. His past results include a top five stage finish in the 2.HC Presidential Tour of Turkey and victory in the 1.2 Tour of Vojvodina.
They will support three strong young riders, namely the 2012 Tour de l’Avenir stage winner and former Austrian national champion Lukas Pöstlberger, the 2012 European Junior Road Race Champion Alexander Wachter and the competitor who Dürauer describes as the team’s ‘best rider by far,’ Gregor Mühlberger.
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| Julian Braun Quota Germany |
Mühlberger won the prologue in last week’s 2.2-ranked Istrian Spring Trophy (UCI 2.2) and finished fourth in the final overall standings.
“An Post Rás is very important for us and we are very ambitious,” states Dürauer. “We will send our top riders to Ireland for that reason.”
The German Kuota Pro Team is also aiming high and will be led by Joachim Tolles, who previously rode the An Post Rás in 2009. He finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh on stages then and knows what to expect from the race.
Tolles showed good form last year in taking third in the post-Tour de France criterium the Tour de Neuss, finishing behind André Greipel and Christian Knees, while his career results also include two stage wins in the Mainfranken Tour.
He will be joined by Philipp Becker, who competed in the race last year as part of Team Bike Aid, and who took three top-three placings on stages of the Tour du Faso in 2012.
Also on the squad will be Andre Benoit, Jan Deutschmann and Micha Glowatzki, who team manager Marius Tolles believes will be both strong team riders and also aggressive in breakaways.
“Our team-goal is to get a stage win in a bunch sprint and a good performance during the race,” he said. “With a little bit of luck we hope to play the cards of Micha Glowatzki and Jan Deutschmann in escape moves.”
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| Philipp Becker Quota Germany |
The team will do a very solid programme of racing prior to An Post Rás, including the prestigious Rund um Köln and Frankfurt-Eschborn events.
An Post Rás Race Director, Tony Campbell anticipates strong performances from both squads. “The line-ups for Tirol Cycling and the Kuota Pro Team look very promising and the riders involved will be very capable of taking on the many other international teams we will have in the race,” he said.
“We’ve announced four good teams. More will follow in the weeks ahead, and we believe it sets things up for a really great edition.”
The 2013 An Post Rás will begin in Dunboyne on Sunday May 18th and will feature stage end finishes in Roscommon, Lisdoonvarna, Charleville, Cahirciveen, Clonakilty, Carrick on Suir, Baltinglass and Skerries.
It will once again be a 2.2 ranked event on the UCI world calendar, and will feature a large number of international and professional teams.
For more Information:
David Foster David.foster@ogilvy.con
Or
Tony Campbell tonycampbell@anpostras.com
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