Halcyon days recalled as top Irish trio go in Dutch Classic

CYCLING:NICOLAS ROCHE, Philip Deignan and national road race champion Matt Brammeier will be part of a strong field in Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, making it the first time in two decades so many Irish riders will take part in the Dutch Classic.

Each has shown decent form of late; Roche was 10th in Tuesday’s Paris-Camembert and will have a protected role on his Ag2r La Mondiale team. Deignan has been riding in the service of the RadioShack leaders but rode solidly in the Volta a Cataluny and Wednesday’s Brabantse Pijl.

Brammeier dedicated himself to the HTC Highroad captains in Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix; he entered the Forest of Arenberg near the front of the bunch, but then had some problems.

“I got there in a real good position, 15th position or something, in front of Cancellara and Hushovd,” he said. “Then some guy crashed right in front of me. I hit him and my front wheel blew out.

“I didn’t hurt myself, but I had to stop. I tried to get going again, then I crashed again because I had a puncture. I had to wait quite a while for the team car to come.”

After restarting, he was delayed due to Tom Boonen’s mechanical problem, which saw the Belgian’s team car stop in the middle of the cobbled section. It plus the photo motorbikes blocked the way through, causing further delay.

He then had to wait for team leader Matt Goss, who had a broken chain.

Brammeier rode on to the finish in Roubaix and was happy to complete what is arguably cycling’s toughest one-day event. “It was awesome, it was some experience. The atmosphere around it, how crazy it was and the stress and everything – it was everything that I expected it be, really.”

Meanwhile there was a good showing from Ireland’s under-23 team in the Côte Picarde event on Wednesday. Sam Bennett placed 12th in the gallop to the line, while Seán Downey also finished in the 52-man front group.

They will be riding the ZLM Tour this weekend, while a different set of riders will do the East Midlands Classic in England.

In other news, two more international teams have been confirmed for this year’s An Post Rás. The Germany-Thuringer Energie team is returning to look for more success, having won the race with Tony Martin in 2007 and then taken three stages plus the points classification last year. Martin has since gone on to win this year’s Paris-Nice and is regarded as the world’s second-best time triallist.

This year’s squad is likely to include Jakob Steigmiller, second on a Rás stage last year and 11th overall, as well as Johannes Kahra and Marcel Barth.

“The Germany-Thuringer Energie squad has been one of the strongest in recent years, and seems to have a good way of developing some really strong young riders,” said An Post Rás race director Dermot Dignam.

Also confirmed is the French AVC Aix en Provence squad.

Finally, there are a several good races this weekend, with events in Meath, Ballymena, Tattyreagh, Carrick-on-Suir and Batterstown.

FIXTURES

Friday : Brendan Carroll Memorial, Piltown, Co Meath; 7pm.

Saturday: Monie Nolan Memorial, Balscadden, 11.30am; Wallace Caldwell Memorial, Ballymena, 11am.

Sunday: Stamullen GP, 12.30pm, Gormanston; McCann Cup, Halfway House, Tattyreagh, 1pm; Thomas Sheehan Memorial, Carrick-on-Suir, noon; IVCA CP Batterstown, 9.15am.