Cycling Reports

Top Class Field Assembled for FBD Milk Rás

By Gerard Cromwell

With this year’s FBD Milk Ras due to start on Sunday next in Navan, Ireland’s top cyclists are fine-tuning their bikes and their bodies in readiness for the challenge ahead. The eight-day international event promises to be one of the best yet, with a record number of foreign teams attracted to the Ras by its newly acquired world ranking status.

Valuable UCI (Union Cycliste International) points are at stake for the first time this year. These points go towards individual riders, professional teams and each nations world rankings and are the basis for qualification for such events as the Olympic Games and the Tour De France.

1,119 kilometres of racing will take the 190 strong field from Navan to stage end towns Ballaghadereen, Portumna, Castleisland, Killorglin, Skibereen, Dungarvan, and Bunclody before finishing on Sunday week with a city centre criterium on O’Connell Street, Dublin. With 31 mountain climbs including The Conor Pass, Molls Gap, Corrabutt Gap, Ladies View and The Heights to be traversed along the way, the winner will surely be a worthy one.

A strong foreign contingent sees 2000 Giro D’Italia stage winner David McKenzie, lead the Swiss professional team Fisconseils. The Aussie strongman heralded the Linda McCartney team’s finest hour when winning stage seven of last year’s Giro with a long solo breakaway which earned him the accolade of Australian cyclist of the year 2000. Indeed McKenzie took the now-defunct McCartney’s last ever win when winning the final stage of the Tour Down Under in his native Australia this year. The Melbourne man should be to the head of affairs throughout the week.

Last year’s winner Julian Winn of Wales returns with a strong squad and some impressive form, having finished second in the world ranked Lincoln Grand Prix on Sunday last. Winn will be wearing number one this year and with back-up from the likes of Huw Prichard and Anthony Malarczyk will be trying to live up to his name again.

The Great Britain team are another squad in good form. Chris Newton leads the outfit and is tipped for overall glory, having recently won the French Circuit des Mines stage race against top professional opposition. The British cycling Federation have kept that winning team of Brian Steele, Paul Manning, Phil West and Stephen Cummings together in a bid to finally win the Ras for Britain.

Jet Fuel Coffee lead the Canadian challenge and are the first and only Canadian professional cycling team and as such are somewhat of an unknown quantity. Josh Hall is a regional criterium champion and he is backed up by past and present members of the Canadian national squad.

Polish team Legia Bazylisic, Japanese squad Miyata-Suburu and South African outfit HSBC make up the rest of the professional teams and are sure to cause a few surprises over the races duration.

Amongst the teams returning from last year are the Swedish Malarenergi team, who took a stage win into Listowel last year with Kristoffer Ingleby and the German Telekom Jan Ullrich team that held the King of the Mountains jersey for three days last year with Samuel Farhun. This team is managed by Peter Becker - famous for having discovered Tour De France winner Jan Ullrich - and all concerned will be hoping to unearth another new German star next week.

Last year’s holder of the yellow jersey for two days, Mark Lovatt and stage winner John Tanner also return on a strong Southend team, with the rest of the international line-up made up of RG Hamburg from Germany, BRC Kemennerland from Holland, Team Velo-Ecosse from Scotland and Team Cliff-Bar from the USA. This USA team comprises former US national champion Joe Millar and Joe Papp who was contracted to ride for Lance Armtrong’s US Postal team in 1999.

Not to be outdone, the Ireland team, sponsored by the Shannon Oaks Hotel, is one of the strongest ever seen on the Ras. The men in green will be led by current national road race champion and CCC-Mat professional, David McCann. The Belfast man won a stage last year as well as taking home both the Points and King of the Mountains jerseys and will be the big home favourite. McCann will be ably supported by 1997 national champion and former Tonnisteiner professional Morgan Fox, former Ras winner and national champion Tommy Evans, former junior world champion and darling of Irish cycling, Mark Scanlon and in-form, Dundrum man, Aiden Duff. This quintet should be well able to mix it with the big guns and shouldn’t go away empty handed from the week’s effort.

Other Irish names to look out for include Martin O’Loughlin and Eddie O’Donoghue of Carlow Dan Morrisey’s, Tour of Ulster winner Timmy Barry who will be in the colours of Dublin Skip Hire, Meath Cycleways duo of Phil Cassidy and Eugene Moriarty, national criterium champion Paul Healion and this weeks Shay Elliott memorial winner Dave Peelo of Dublin Usher Insulations and former under 23 champion David McQuaid, who rides alongside current under 23 champ Dave O’Loughlin in the colours of Mayo Connaught Gold.

The Ras is due to leave Navan at 12 o’clock on Sunday for the first stage of 155 kilometres to Ballaghadereen, with Hot Spot sprints along the way at Delvin, Edgeworthstown and Strokestown and two third category climbs at Scramoge and Rathcroghan to decide who will be wearing the first yellow jersey of FBD Milk Ras leader.