CYCLING:FOLLOWING STRONG showings in recent weeks, Irish professionals Philip Deignan and Nicolas Roche will take part in the Tour of the Basque Country, which begins on Monday.
Deignan will compete in the race with his Cervélo Test Team and is motivated by his showing in the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, which ended a week ago. He was fifth on the toughest mountain stage and placed seventh overall in the 2.1-ranked event, finishing ahead of some big names in world cycling. If he gets the opportunity, a good ride in the Basque Tour is a target.
“The route looks really hard but I feel I have recovered well from Castilla y Leon,” he told The Irish Times. “My goal in the race depends on what the team want me to do but if the form is like last week, I would like to try for another good place in the general classification.”
Before then, both he and Roche will ride the GP Miguel Indurain on Saturday. The latter was a solid 35th in the Milan San Remo Classic and then went on to place 11th overall in last weekend’s Criterium International. “I hope I’ll be going well in the Tour of the Basque Country,” Roche said yesterday. “It is a very hard race with long climbs.”
In other news, it has been announced this year’s FBD Insurance Rás will see an Austrian team take part for the first time in the event’s 56-year history. The Arbo KTM Junkers squad will join the previously-announced Danish-registered Designa Køkken team in the 2.2-ranked race, which starts in just over six weeks’ time. It will be led by the 24-year-old Czech Jan Barta, a past national under-23 road race champion.
He will be backed by Michael Singer (22), a multiple Austrian road and track championship medallist, Robert Gaszmayr (24), Josef Kugler (24) and Hannes Gründlinger (31). The riders are keen to have a good showing in the Rás as it is the first time for an Austrian team to travel to the race.The Rás will begin in Kilcullen on May 17th and run for eight days.
FIXTURES:Saturday: Harry Reynolds Memorial, sign on at Man O'War pub. Starts 4.30 pm. Tour of Ards, Portaferry road. Starts noon. Derroura Challenge mountainbike time trial. Venue halfway between Oughterard and Maam Cross, starts 10.30am. Call Martin on 087 2226260 for more info. Cancelled: youth race at Ballinrobe racecourse. Sunday: Ben McKenna Memorial, sign on at Ring Commons Sports Centre near Balbriggan. Race start at 11am. Silver Pail GP, Fermoy. Starts 1 pm. Aghagallon Cup, Bartin's Bay Road. First race at noon. Includes round of Ulster Women's League. IVCA 70km race, Kentstown. Starts 9.15am. Mayo league race, starts Srah Community Centre at 10.30am.
