Rabobank, TopSport - Vlaanderen and Pinarello complete Tour of Ireland line up

The Tour of Ireland organisers have confirmed the final three teams for the forthcoming Tour of Ireland 27th to 31st August 2008.

The Rabobank name will be familiar to many cycling fans as the team from the Netherlands with many great riders over the years; Adrie van der Poel, Erik Breukink, Rolf Sorensen, Erik Dekker and Johan Bruyneel. Boy Van Poppel returns to Ireland for the second time. The son of legendary sprinter Jean Paul van Poppel is still only 20-years-old but has already been crowned world champion at the world junior cyclo-cross championships in 2006. He finished fourth on the final stage into Dublin on the Irish Tour last year and showed good form when he helped his team to third place in the team time trial in the Settimana Ciclista Lombarda stage race in Italy earlier this year.

Thomas Berkhout came close to a stage win last year when he finished second in Dublin and the 23-year-old has already shown that he can challenge for overall victory too when he finished second in the Tour of Normandy earlier this year. Berkhout's career successes include winning the Ronde van Vlaams-Brabant and finishing second in the under 23 edition of the Tour of Flanders in 2005. Thomas Rabou will know all about the Kerry roads after he won stage one of the Ras Mumhan into Killarney back in 2006 when he also won the Tour of Siam in the same year.

TopSport - Vlaanderen is sending a talented team over from Belgium. The former Chocolade Jacques squad has had a number of good results this year including 5th place for Kenny Dehaes in the early season classic Ghent-Wevelgen race. More recently Dehaes finished second in stage four of the Tour of Denmark behind top Argentinean sprinter Ruben Bongiorno (CSF Group - Navigare). The team line up includes Nikolas Maes and Frederiek Nolf who are certain to look for stage wins.

Pinarello - CandiTV is a small but powerful team that has recorded domestic and international success this year. Russell Downing will lead the UK team full of confidence after he convincingly won the East Yorkshire Classic road race last weekend. His win also gave him victory overall in the season long British Premier Calendar series, with two races still remaining. The former British road race champion will arrive in Dublin Docklands for the start in Grand Canal Square on August 27th alongside veteran professional Malcolm Elliott who returns to Ireland 20 years after winning two stages of the Nissan Classic (Boyle and Limerick) in 1988. He also finished second that year in the general classification one place behind Rolf Golz and one place ahead of legendary sprinter Sean Kelly. The amazing 47-year-old from Sheffield also won a stage of the Vuelta Espana that year and finished fourth on the Champs-elys�es in Paris in the final stage of the Tour de France.

"Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly were household names when I rode the Nissan Classic back in the eighties," said Elliott: "The public support for them was absolutely crazy. It was incredible going up St Patrick's Hill in Cork. I remember feeling how close the crowd was to us and the noise was unbelievable. Obviously it is 20 years since I last raced there and it is going to be extremely tough this time round. I am definitely under no illusions. It will be great if we can capture some of that atmosphere again."

The rest of the team list is likely to include former Irish international Andrew Roche and promising youngsters Freddie Johansson, Peter Williams and Thomas Murray.


Tour of Ireland - In association with Failte Ireland

Stage 1: Dublin to Waterford, 192km - Wednesday 27th August
Stage 2: Thurles to Loughrea, 158km - Thursday 28th August
Stage 3: Ballinrobe to Galway, 201km - Friday 29th August
Stage 4: Limerick to Dingle, 186km - Saturday 30th August
Stage 5: Killarney to Cork, 155km - Sunday 31st August


TopSport / Vlaanderen

COENEN Johan
DEHAES Kenny
HOVELIJNCK Kurt
MAES Nikolas
NEYENS Maarten
NOLF Frederiek
RENDERS Sven


Rabobank Team

AERNOUTS Bart
BEIMA Marcel
BERKHOUT Thomas
VAN POPPEL Boy
POPOV Evengel
RABOU Thomas
VAN STAEYEN Michael

-----

Karpin Galicia and Rapha Condor team names added to Tour of Ireland Start Sheet
Release: 25th July 2008

As the Tour de France comes to a conclusion in Paris this weekend, the Tour of Ireland organisers have announced another two teams for the five day race that starts in Dublin Docklands on Wednesday August 27th. Spanish teams Karpin Galicia and UK based Rapha Condor Recycling have confirmed there participation in the 2008 Tour.

The Karpin Galicia team was launched in 2007 after a number of top Spanish teams were disbanded. The team races on the UCI European Tour but also received a wild card to ride the Vuelta a Espana last year. The Spanish team is named after the autonomous community region of Galicia where the team was founded. Alberto Fernandez Sainz is the experienced tour man of the Spanish team travelling to Ireland. The 26-year-old professional won the Bizkaiko Bira stage race in Spain last year and made it to the podium twice in the Vuelta a Zamora. Alejandro Paleo has also tasted stage race success as a previous winner of the Volta Coru�a. The team's key wins this year include overall victories in the Presidential Tour of Turkey and Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. The team's Director Sportif is former Vuelta a Espana winner �lvaro Pino.

Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk sits at the top of the table on the British Cycling national team rankings with a massive points lead this year. Team captain Dean Downing's early season form saw him winning the BC Premier Calendar Bike-Line Two-Day stage race and stage two of the FBD Insurance Ras when it finished in Claremorris. Chris Newton followed Downing into the Ras record books when he won the following day's stage three into Lisdoonvarna. Newton is a former double winner of the Ras (2003 & 2005) and solid member of the British track team with medals from the Olympic Games and the World Championships. Downing and Newton are currently on GB team duty in the Sachsen International Tour of Saxony with team mates Ben Greenwood and Kristian House. Downing won the 242km stage two which finished in Frohburg on Thursday 24th July. Graham Briggs has been the surprise package of the team this year, showing he can sprint to victory from a big bunch when he won two rounds of the British Cycling criterium series. Briggs could be in contention for the An Post sprinter's jersey if he can stay under the radar from riders like quadruple Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia), Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30) and Mauro Richeze (CSF Group Navigare) The Rapha Condor Recycling team line up for the Tour of Ireland is expected to be revealed shortly.

The 900km Tour of Ireland cycle race starts from Grand Canal Square in the Dockland's area of Dublin on Wednesday 27th August when 112 riders head out on a route across 12 counties toward the final destination of the City of Cork. The route embraces key towns and cities as well as iconic mountain passes and splendid Irish scenery.


Stage 1: Dublin to Waterford, 192km - Wednesday 27th August
Stage 2: Thurles to Loughrea, 158km - Thursday 28th August
Stage 3: Ballinrobe to Galway, 201km - Friday 29th August
Stage 4: Limerick to Dingle, 186km - Saturday 30th August
Stage 5: Killarney to Cork, 155km - Sunday 31st August


Karpin Galicia

TRONCOSO SOBRINO Ramon
RABUNAL RIOS, Gonzalo
MOURON DOLDAN, Juan Francisco
FERNANDEZ CRUZ, Delio
FERNANDEZ SAINZ, Alberto
ISAYCHEV, Vladimir
PALEO MOSQUERA Alejandro