CYCLING/TOUR OF THE ALGARVE:EACH OF the riders with the Irish-registered An Post Donnelly Grant Thornton Seán Kelly team finished in the main bunch on stage two of the Tour of the Algarve in Portugal yesterday. Irishmen Stephen Gallagher, David O'Loughlin and Páidí O'Brien were classified in the same time as bunch sprint winner Koldo Fernandez of Euskaltel Euskadi, as were their four Belgian team-mates.
One of those, Benny De Schrooder, is highest placed of the team. He is 44th, 14 seconds behind Fernandez heading into today’s 175km stage to Malhao. Gallagher and O’Brien are at the same deficit, while O’Loughlin lost time on the first day and is over four minutes back.
The Mayo rider is, however, riding his first road race of the season, having focused on track racing for the past months. This velodrome-oriented work has paid off; he took bronze in the individual pursuit at last month’s World Cup in Beijing, and finished second last week in Copenhagen.
He will continue in Portugal until the race ends on Sunday, then revert to track training in preparation for next month’s world championships in Poland.
O’Loughlin and three other Irish riders are waiting to hear if they will be able to take part in the team pursuit at the worlds. He, David McCann, Paul Healion and Martyn Irvine finished a good fifth in Copenhagen, improving their Irish record to four minutes 11.587 seconds for the 4,000 metres.
The quartet are ranked 11th overall, with the first 20 squads eligible to ride. However, a UCI rule insists nations should have a representative in four rounds of the World Cup. The Irish team is likely to appeal this on financial grounds, and is hoping the time is quick enough to earn carding funding for the rest of 2009.
In other news, Nicolas Roche will tomorrow start the two-day Tour du Haut Var in France.
FIXTURES: Saturday: Paralympic Cycling Ireland Hand cycle workshop, Alsaa, Santry, 10am. Sunday: Connacht training race, Bohola Community centre, 10.30am; Downhill winter league, Carrick, Co Wicklow, 11am; Paddy Martin Randonee, Bray Wheelers clubhouse 10am; Phoenix Reliability trail, 9.30am, House of Sport, Belfast.
