Denmark Blue Water Cycling Team Return To 2013 An Post Rås With Big Ambitions
Apr 5, 2013, 00:30
|
Rasmus Guldhammer, Bluewater Cycling, Denmark |
Following
on from a successful debut campaign in 2012 when it picked up two stage wins
plus second in the best young rider classification, the Denmark Blue Water Cycling
team will return to this year’s An Post Rás with big ambitions.
According
to Jacob Nielsen, who was second on stage one last year, the team is determined
to perform at least as well as it did last May, if not to improve on that.
“As
this is our second year at the Rás we know what to expect. In 2012 we won two
stages and we are coming to Ireland in May to win stages and do well in the
overall,” he said, confirming the team’s attendance and goals.
Last
time round Mark Sehested Pedersen won stage four to Bundoran, then Lasse Norman
Hansen followed that up three days later with victory into Cootehill. Norman
Hansen finished second in the Irish Sports Council Under 23 classification, and
later went on to win the Omnium title in the London Olympics.
|
Morten Ollegaard, Bluewater Cycling, Denmark |
While
neither rider are scheduled to take part this time round, the team has an
extremely solid lineup in place. Nielsen (35) will be back and as a former
world junior road race silver medallist and the 2009 winner of the UCI-ranked
GP Copenhagen, he is capable of big performances.
The
other four riders include former HTC Highroad professional Rasmus Guldhammer
(24), who finished fourth overall in the 2.HC-ranked Tour of Denmark in 2009,
plus the 2011 Tour of Norway runner-up Daniel Foder (29).
The
team will likely be completed by the 25 year olds Soren Pugdahl, runner up in
the 2009 GP Copenhagen, plus Morten Ollegaard, who clocked up six wins last
year.
Nielsen
said that the team will seek to exploit its strength in depth. “We have no set
leader as all the riders are able to do well, so we will se how things go,” he
said.
|
Daniel Foder, Bluewater Cycling, Denmark |
An
Post Rás race director Tony Campbell was impressed by the team last year and
knows they should again be one of the strongest international squads. “With two
stage wins in 2012, the team performed very strongly,” he said. “Now that they
have the benefit of riding the race before, we believe the Denmark Blue Water
team could be even better again. We look forward to seeing them in action.”
The
squad will do four 1.2-ranked UCI races in Denmark in April, namely the GP
Herning, the GP Skive, the GP Himmerland and the GP Thy.
Those
races will be followed up by two identically-ranked events in Norway in early
May, the GP Hadeland and the GP Ringerike.
The
2013 An Post Rás will begin in Dunboyne on Sunday 19th May, the fourth
consecutive year it has started there. It will then move counter-clockwise
around the country, and includes stage finishes in Longford, Nenagh, Listowel,
Killarney, Glengarriff, Mitchelstown, Carlow and Naas, before concluding on
Sunday 26th May with the customary finale in Skerries, North County Dublin.
The
race will feature 33 categorised climbs, of which four are category one
mountains and twelve are category two ascents.
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