CYCLING:MARK CASSIDY moved up a place to 13th overall in the Tour of Oman yesterday, finishing in the main bunch on the stage to Sur.
The An Post Grant Thornton M Donnelly Seán Kelly team rider had gained time when he was part of a long-distance breakaway on Wednesday, picking up bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint and finishing as part of a depleted main bunch.
He and fellow Irishman Sam Bennett were among the An Post team riders to cross the line in the same time as yesterday’s winner Theo Bos (Rabobank), who outsprinted Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) and overnight leader Matthew Harley Goss (HTC-Highroad) to the line.
Another An Post rider, former Belgian champion Niko Eeckhout, was a fine eighth in that sprint.
Goss continues to lead overall, two seconds ahead of Bennati. Cassidy is 15 seconds back in that 13th place, while his Belgian team-mate Pieter Ghyllebert is two seconds back.
The 2.1-ranked race continues today with a 157km leg to the summit finish of Jabal al Akhdhar/ Green Mountain.
Elsewhere, Nicolas Roche got his season under way this week in the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal. The Ag2r La Mondiale professional has been hampered recently by injury and has lost time on the two opening stages, yesterday due to a puncture. He is 2:38 behind overall leader Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), who is four seconds clear of stage winner John Degenkolb (HTC-Highroad).
In other news, six Irish riders have travelled to Manchester for the final World Cup of the track season. Caroline Ryan, Ciara Horne, Jennifer O’Reilly and Siobhán Dervan will ride the team pursuit, Martyn Irvine will compete in the omnium and Felix English in the individual pursuit. The riders have been training hard for 12 days in Majorca. Racing begins today.
The World Cup will be the final big meet before next month’s world championships in Apeldoorn, and both are very important for Ireland’s ranking and Olympic qualification hopes.
The performances will help determine Cycling Ireland’s (CI) final high-performance allocation from the Irish Sports Council.
The provisional figures released yesterday saw CI receive an increase of about €20,000 over the 2010 figures.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday: Tour of the Down, starts Katesbridge at 10am.
Sunday: Paddy Martin Randonee, starts 10am from Bray Wheelers Clubhouse; Omagh reliability trial, starts 9.30am Omagh; Phoenix reliability trial, starts 9am from House of Sport, Belfast.
