Following on from a superb showing last year, the Irish national team to dispute this month’s Rás Tailteann has been announced.
The five-man squad will comprise Aaron Wade, Patrick O’Loughlin, Odhrán Doogan, Ewan Warren and Dillon Corkery, who will act as road captain during each stage. Former world track champion Martyn Irvine will be the sporting director, a role he filled to very good effect in 2022.
The team clocked up stage wins last time around via Adam Ward and Rory Townsend, with the latter taking the points classification and Dean Harvey the best-climber award. Ward and Townsend were third and fourth overall, and Ireland was the best team.
‘Development opportunity’
Irvine had a very strong campaign in general with Irish squads last year, sharing his knowledge and guidance. He will be hoping for another good showing this year but sees a longer-term benefit too. “Rás Tailteann provides an excellent development opportunity for the riders chosen,” he said on Tuesday. “Our primary goal is to use the five-day stage race as a learning experience, and I am looking forward to seeing what the team can do against a competitive field.”
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Doogan will be watched by many, the then 18-year-old taking a superb second on stage four last year despite being the youngest rider in the race. He was also fifth on stage one. Warren was second overall in the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan last month, while Wade won the points classification in the Circuito Guadiana race in Portugal in February and, like Warren, has been competing regularly in Spain. O’Loughlin was third in last year’s junior road race championships and fifth on stage one of Rás Mumhan.
Corkery is, at 24, the oldest rider on the team. He has been based in France this season and has performed well with CC Etupes. His results include second on a stage of the Boucle de l’Artois plus third in the points classification and fifth in last month’s Dijon-Auxonne-Dijon.
Co-sponsor FBD
FBD Insurance has confirmed it will once again be one of the co-sponsors of this year’s Rás, stepping in as backer of the daily stage winner’s jersey. The company was a previous title sponsor of the event, combining with the National Dairy Council between 1984 and 2004, and then taking over as the sole sponsor until 2010.
It returned last year as one of several classification backers and will repeat that role this time around.
This year’s Rás will begin in Navan on May 17th and will feature stage finishes in Birr, Ennis, Castlebar, Monaghan and Blackrock, Co Louth. The clockwise route will mean the riders cover 768km and 14 categorised climbs over five days. Daire Feeley (Cork-VeloRevolution/All Human) triumphed last year, becoming the first Irish winner since Stephen Gallagher in 2008.
Meanwhile, national road race champion Rory Townsend had a superb start in the International Tour of Hellas in Greece on Tuesday, finishing second in the prologue in Heraklion. He was nine seconds behind team-mate Aaron Gate over the 6km distance. The 2.1-ranked race runs until Saturday.
