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2007
Former Olympic gold medallist and three time Tour de France rider Daniel Becke will lead a highly promising Germany - Thûringer Energie squad in this year’s FBD Insurance Rás, which starts in Naas on Sunday May 20th. Becke was part of the German squad which won the Olympic team pursuit in 2000. He is hugely experienced, having raced with the top-level Bianchi, Caisse d’Epargne-Iles Balears and Team Milram squads in recent seasons. He started the Tour de France in the years from 2003 to 2005, and took five top-20 placings on stages. Becke moved to the German Continental team at the end of 2006 and will be mixing road and track competition during this year. He finished 11th in the individual pursuit at the world track championships in Majorca last Thursday. The 29 year old will be joined by some very talented young team-mates, including Tony Martin, previously sixth in the European championships time trial [2005] and road race [2006] and.Nico Graf, fourth in the 2005 European champs road race and winner of the fifth stage of the GP Tell in Switzerland last year. Also heading to Ireland will be the 2004 junior track points race world champion Marcel Barth, and Florian Frohn, who was 6th last year in the Linz-Passau-Budweis in Austria. “This is the first time for our team and the riders on it to start the race, but we hope we can have a good performance this year,” said team manager Jens Lang. “We are aiming to finish in the top ten on several stages, as well as reaching the podium on one of them.” Thus far, the Germany - Thûringer Energie squad is the second Continental team declared for this year’s FBD Insurance Rás. The participation of Czech Republic - AC Sparta Praha was announced two weeks ago and race director Dermot Dignam has said that several more highly-ranked international teams will be confirmed in the weeks ahead. The 2007 edition of the race will get underway on Sunday May 20th with a 157 kilometre stage from Naas to Templemore. The riders will cover almost 1200 kilometres of highly competitive racing as they travel anti-clockwise around the country, taking in additional stage finishes at Loughrea, Sligo, Dungloe, Buncrana, Derry, Newcastle and Skerries. The race is sponsored by FBD Insurances and also receives important backing from the Irish Sports Council.
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