ROCHE AND MARTIN SEEKING TO RECLAIM CHAMPIONSHIP JERSEY

There will be a full field for the Elite road race championship on Sunday, but for many the favourites will be the riders who have won in the past two years.

2008 victor Daniel Martin and his first cousin, last year’s champion Nicolas Roche, will each aim to retake the distinctive white and green jersey and bring it back to their ProTour teams.

Both have shown strong form this season and, with the illness-enforced absence of Philip Deignan (Cervélo Test Team), the odds that one or other of them can take the title are a little higher.

Roche is preparing for his second Tour de France and as a result, decided not to travel back for Wednesday’s Stephen Roche Grand Prix in Dundrum. Martin also gave it a miss, although he was in attendance at the race.

Roche triumphed in last year’s championships, and said that he has enjoyed his time wearing the distinctive white and green kit. “I think the Irish champion’s jersey has done a lot for me,” he said in recent days. “It has been so easy to pick out on TV that I think it brought a lot of interest for those watching the Tour, particularly the Irish public.”

He will be the sole Irish competitor in this year’s Tour de France and wants to wear it again at the start next weekend. “It feels great to have that jersey – I love it, and I will go and fight to defend it.”

Martin soloed to victory two years ago in a particularly dominant display and showed similar form last Saturday when he was best in the Dublin round of the Halfords Tour Series. “I’m still very tired from the Giro d’Italia,” he said on Wednesday, “but I have held off taking a break until after the nationals.”

Last year’s runner-up David O’Loughlin will be one of several An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team riders who will take part. O’Loughlin won the Halfords race held one week ago in Belfast, and has taken three road race championships in all. Connor McConvey, Mark Cassidy and Matt Brammeier will also represent the team on Sunday, but 2009 bronze medallist Paídi O’Brien and Ronan McLaughlin will miss out due to injury.

Others to watch include multiple champion David McCann (Giant Asia), who took a record sixth time trial title on Thursday, and the promising young riders Sam Bennett and Philip Lavery.

The woman’s road race will take place today over six laps of a 8.25 mile circuit. Multiple champion Siobhan Horgan showed a return to form recently when she was third in the Poitou-Charentes French Cup race. She will be up against several strong riders, including defending champion Heather Wilson and runner-up Olivia Dillon.

The veterans’ championship will also take place today, with the over-40 riders covering eight laps. Cycling Ireland president Rory Wyley triumphed last year and will aim to do so again. The junior road race will take place on Sunday; Charles Prendergast (Mayo Wheelers) won twelve months ago.