Irish Road Race Champion, David O’Loughlin, is to spearhead a very strong Grant Thornton Irish National Team for the FBD Insurance RÁS 8 Day international cycle race that starts from Dublin in less than three weeks time.

David O'Loughlin National Road Race Champion 2005

Cycling Ireland has confirmed O’Loughlin, a full time professional rider with the New Jersey-based Navigators team and third overall in the 2004 RÁS, is to lead a young, but experienced national team in an attempt to gain control over many professional teams already booked for the prestigious Irish tour.

Also returning from competing abroad are two other Irish national champions, Paídi O’Brien and Roger Aiken. O’Brien is the Irish under 23 title holder, while Aiken is the reigning hill climb champion and is also a past national cyclo-cross gold medallist. Both compete in Belgium as part of the Continental/professional level Sean Kelly – ACLVB M. Donnelly Racing Team.

Two more strong young riders complete the squad. Conor Murphy took third in the recent Shay Elliott Memorial and was victorious in events such as the Stamullen GP and Bray GP this season. He has been competing as part of the exciting new-look Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group Continental squad, but the team management have generously released him to the Irish squad for the FBD Insurance RÁS.

“Team Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group have the aim this year of trying to raise the standard of cycling here and have done that, with riders such as Conor taking several big results. He is a very talented rider and while we would have liked to have him on our team for the FBD Insurance RÁS, being selected to represent Ireland is a great honour,” stated Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group chief sponsor Stephen Murphy. “We have agreed to release him for the race and are confident that Conor will perform very strongly this May.”

Riger Aiken winner of stage one FBD Rás 2005

Ryan Connor races with the EC Mayenne team in France and has been in promising form this year, finishing second in the best young rider standings and fourteenth overall in the Tour of Siam. More recently he won the Tour of the North and performed strongly in the Shay Elliott Memorial. He is a good climber and proven time trialist, the Ulster rider having won the British junior title in 2003.

Tamara O’Driscoll, CEO Cycling Ireland said: “We were determined to enter a strong team into the RAS this year to properly reflect the high standard of racing that Irish Cycling is currently experiencing. We have to thank our sponsors Grant Thornton for their continued support of Irish racing, as it is with funding like this that we are continuously able to develop our sport.”

This year’s FBD Insurance RÁS will begin in Dublin on May 21st and finish eight days and over 1200 kilometres later in Skerries on Sunday May 28^th. The world-ranking race will also feature exciting stage finishes in Enniscorthy, Cobh, An Daingean, Listowel, An Cheathru Rua, Westport and Clara.

The event is once again sponsored by FBD Insurance and receives important support from the Irish Sports Council.