Cycling News round-upAlthough the season is coming to an end, an eight-man Ireland team are hoping to finish the year strongly with success in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, which starts this Sunday and runs for seven days.
David McCann travels to Australia after an excellent win in the Milad du Noor in Iran this week. The Belfastman took the prologue and then moved back into the overall lead with two stages to go in the 2.2 ranked race. He, Paul Griffin and the rest of the Giant Asia team defended the jersey until the end, with McCann taking third on Tuesday's final stage. Griffin placed eighth overall and unluckily missed out on a win on stage three when he was sent the wrong way with 500 metres to go.
McCann will be joined in the Sun Tour by Tommy Evans, Conor Murphy, Andrew Roche, Paul Healion, Andrew McQuaid, Pádraig Marrey and Eugene Moriarty. A total of 144 riders will take part in the 2.1 ranked event, of which exactly half are from overseas.
Also continuing to race are Ag2R Prévoyance professionals Mark Scanlon and Philip Deignan. Scanlon was due to ride in the 1.1 ranked Paris-Bourges yesterday before going on to compete in the ProTour Paris-Tours event on Sunday. Deignan will hope to recapture the kind of form he showed during the Under-23 event at the World Championships two weeks ago, where he placed ninth, when he competes in the Giro dell'Emilia tomorrow and the GP Beghelli on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Irish cyclo cross season gets under way at Lurgan this Sunday. Apollo CT are running the non-handicapped event, which starts at Waves leisure centre in Lurgan. More information is available from www.apolloct.com, or call Andy Layhe on (048) 38348001.
The same day, Cycling Ireland's track commission will hold their agm in the Sports Complex in Kilcullen, Co Kildare. Starting at 2.30pm, all are welcome to attend. The commission are particularly interested in volunteers, who can help ensure the development of track cycling.
Those unable to attend can contact Tony Doyle at 087 2312228 or Aideen Collard at 087 4179967.
FIXTURES - Sunday: Apollo CT Cyclo Cross, Lurgan. Underage starts noon, main race at 1pm. MTBs permitted but will not count in results. CI track commission agm, Kilcullen Sports Complex, 2.30pm.
Monday: Cycling Leinster agm, West County Hotel, Chapelizod, 8pm.
