Power has credentials to break national duck

At around 4.30 on Sunday afternoon a particular discussion should be settled, a welcome assessment made. For the first time this season the major players in Irish cycling will come together in the one event, offering national team director Richie Beatty a long-overdue opportunity to determine those most worthy of travelling to Sydney in September.

With 10 riders on the Olympic squad but just two places on offer, circumstances dictate that hard decisions now have to be made. It is fitting that the national road race championships should be the crucial event. Favourite to fill both the champions jersey and one of the road race berths is professional Ciaran Power, who in the past month recorded four top-20 placings in the Tour of Italy, finished his first three-week tour and was fifth, twice, on stages of the recent Circuit Montanes in Spain.

An intelligent tactician, a solid climber and a vastly improved sprinter, Power has all the credentials to break his national championship duck this weekend and bring the winner's jersey back to the Linda McCartney stables. s jersey back the Linda McCartney stables.

Missing will be fellow professional Morgan Fox, sidelined until early August with a viral infection. Having raced at the top level all season, the 25-year-old was one of the prime candidates for Olympic consideration and his record in the national championships (winner in 1997, second last year) coupled with his form of late suggests that he would have been very much in the running on Sunday.

Instead, the main obstacles to s Power's bid will be 1996 Olympian David McCann and former junior world champion Mark Scanlon. Both are clearly in form.

Rumour suggests that McCann is favoured to accompany Power to Atlanta, with Scanlon targeted for the European under-23 championships, but should the Sligoman (or any other rider) dominate on Sunday then they will come into the picture. Indeed there are a number of competitors heading into the race in good form: Italy-based David O'Loughlin, the best-placed Irishman in the FBD Milk Ras, Paddy Moriarty, stage winner Brian Kenneally and defending national champion Tommy Evans are among those capable of a surprise result.

The feeling persists, however, that either Power, McCann or Scanlon is most likely to return from Cork with the green and white jersey of Irish road race champion and his name pencilled in for an Olympic appointment in just under three months. One hundred hard miles will reveal all.

First year senior Thomas Lavery had a fine debut to French competition, placing fifth in the Des Trois Slochers event in Rennes last weekend.