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Top Track Racing Talent Confirm For Belgium And New Zealand Teams In 2014 An Post Rás
Mar 14, 2014, 17:46
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| Cameron Karwowski New Zealand |
Some of the world’s top track racing riders will draw on their velodrome-honed speed to chase success in this year’s An Post Rás.
Belgium and New Zealand have today been named as the first two teams confirmed for the May 2014 event, and both squads will include riders who have been very successful in track competition.
The Belgian squad will comprise five riders from the Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise team, including the former European and world madison champion Kenny de Ketele. The 28-year old rider will be joined by Jasper de Buyst, who was the winner of the Gent Six last November.
Belgium omnium champion Moreno De Pauw will also feature, returning to the race one year after he won stage five into Mitchelstown. He knows what to expect on Irish roads and will be looking to add to his strong performance in 2013.
The same goes for de Ketele, who was one of the most aggressive riders on the penultimate stage of last year’s race, going clear in the Wicklow mountains and securing an eventual fifth place overall finish in the best climber’s competition.
De Buyst was another who competed last year, netting tenth overall plus second in the Irish Sports Council under-23 classification.
The team will be completed by Otto Vergaerde and Jonas Rickaert, both of whom have medalled in the Belgian national track championships.
Team manager Jos Smets said that the team would do mainly Belgian events in the build up for the An Post Rás, and that it will take an ambitious approach to the event. “Our goals are to win a stage and to take a top five overall finish in the final ranking,” he stated.
“We won’t start with designated leaders, but Kenny De Ketele and Jasper De Buyst are the most experienced riders. The leadership will depend of the results of the first few stages.”
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| Moreno de Pauw Belgium Wins Stage 5 Into Mitchelstown 2013 |
Also travelling to Ireland is a strong line up from New Zealand. It will include three members of the bronze-medal winning team from the 2014 world championships, namely Dylan Kennett, Piet Bulling and Marc Ryan. Also on board are Cameron Karwowski and Hamish Schruers.
“The team goals are to race hard as the event will act as important stimulus in the build-up to the Commonwealth Games,” said national coach Dayle Cheatley. “We will be looking for stage wins in both sprint finishes and long breakaways.”
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| Marc Ryan New Zealand |
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| Dylan Kennett New Zealand |
The riders will fly from New Zealand to Europe on May 1st and will do the Triptyque Ardennais event as part of the build-up to Ireland’s only UCI world ranked race.
An Post Rás race director Tony Campbell believes the two squads will play an important part in how the race unfolds.
“As we have seen in the past, track teams have the pure speed and group discipline to really shake things up,” he said. “In addition to chasing sprint wins, these attributes will also enable Belgium and New Zealand to really ride aggressively during the An Post Rás and to influence the final general classification.”
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