One of the biggest races of the year takes place for young Irish riders this weekend with the staging of the European under-23 championships in Brittany.
Four have been selected to wear the green jersey in the event - Mark Scanlon and Denis Lynch line out as part of the 102-man field entered for today's 32-kilometre time-trial, with Dermot Nally and Gary McQuaid joining them in Sunday's tough 164-kilometre road race.
Scanlon has the best prospects of the quartet, and will be chasing a good result to help him find a professional contract for next season. The 1998 junior world champion has ridden well of late - Scanlon was of great assistance to Tommy Evans in his winning of the recent Tour de Ronde race in France and himself finished eight overall and best young rider.
Evans took the lead in the race after some strong riding early on, including second on a 10-kilometre individual time-trial, and went into the final stage leading by 14 points and also heading the sprints competition. The former national champion won the bunch sprint for 16th place on that final 100-kilometre stage, thus surviving the threat caused when the second-placed rider Regis Balanrob broke away and gained time over the chasing bunch.
However Balanrob was unable to join up with the leading group and so failed to close the gap. He ultimately ended up four points off the total of Evans, who was also second in the sprints classification.
In other foreign competition, Beth McCluskey was the highest placed Irish rider in the European MTB championships last weekend. She finished 33rd, with Don Travers 68th in the men's Elite race.
In England, Paddy Moriarty once again showed his class in foreign competition when he won the Surrey League five day, while Timmy Barry and Richie Cahill finished third and sixth overall.
This weekend, more national titles are up for grabs. Tomorrow, the Irish Hillclimb Championships takes place on the Spelga Pass in Co Down, while the Dublin Skip underage track championships will be held in the Sundrive Road track in Kimmage.
On Sunday, the veteran, under-23 and junior titles will be decided in Batterstown, with some great racing in store. Taking place on a 13-mile circuit, the veterans will complete four laps while the juniors and under-23 riders will race over five and six laps respectively.
Finally, the ICF report a strong turnout for their regional Strategy Document meetings. The final version of the document should be finalised shortly.
