New Zealand's Pat Bevin rode a storming Rás last year with two epic stage wins. The Kiwi national team for next month's race is star-studded, with all five riders reigning world track champions (Photo: Ramsey Cardy - Sportsfile)
Two teams who made a huge impact on the An Post Rás last year are back for more this year, with Canada and New Zealand both naming very strong national teams for the eight-day race next month.
Undoubtedly, the Kiwi team commands most respect as in their five-man line-up will be their all-conquering team pursuit track squad who won gold at the World Championships in Paris in February.
Marc Ryan, Regan Gough, Alex Frame and Pieter Bulling are all travelling to Ireland to battle it out for stage and overall honours next month.
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The fifth member is likely to be Luke Mudgway, a talented track rider himself who is the current junior madison world champion.
The Kiwis will be intent on emulating their success of last year when Pat Bevin claimed two outstanding stage wins.
And only for two members of the team falling ill during the race, they might have fared even better in the final shake-up.
Eventual stage winner Markus Eibegger (Synergy Baku) drives the two-man breakaway with Remi Pelletier-Roy of the Canadian National Team for company near Dungarvan on the way to Seskin Hill, Carrick-on-Suir last year. The stage was an epic, with both riders battling strong crosswinds and heavy rain for much of the day (Photo: Dave Coleman – Dc Images)
Bevin has since moved on to one of the strongest Continental teams in the southern hemisphere, Avanti Racing.
Gough is a member of the same team while Frame rode for the Giant-Shimano Development Team last year, so it’s hardly surprising to hear them state some very big targets.
"The squad for the Rás is a selection from a group of riders who are targeting the Rio 2016 Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics," said team manager Stephen Connell.
"The 2015 route looks interesting. We will have to see what the competition brings but our goal is to target stage wins and to be competitive.”
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Also travelling will be a Canadian selection whose emphasis is on developing young riders.
They’ll choose from Sean MacKinnon, Alec Cowen, Edward Walsh, Adam Jamieson, William Elliot and Eric Johnstone, most of whom are in their first year in the senior ranks.
As the Rás draws closer, the line-up seems to be hotting up very nicely indeed. Above, racing to the summit of Corabutt Gap during stage 7 from Carrick on Suir to Baltinglass last year (Photo: Ramsey Cardy - Sportsfile)
MacKinnoin rode the Rás last year and finished 35th overall so he will return with another year's development in his legs and with invaluable experience of what is a unique race.
The man who gave Canada most exposure was third placed Nic Hamilton, though he will not be back this time.
"Our team will be once again on composed of a young group of riders, many of them coming from our national team pursuit programme," said Cycling Canada's development coach Luc Arseneau.
The team has-been spending time in Sierra Nevada, Spain, in order to prepare for its main season goals, with the U23 Nations Cup races next week very important for them.
The two teams will join the recently-announced Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang team from Austria, Sweden's Tre Berg - Bianchi, the Australian outfit Subaru Albion, British teams NFTO and JLT Condor plus a number of other strong international outfits.
The 2015 An Post Rás will begin in Dunboyne on May 17 and will feature stage finishes in Carlow, Tipperary, Bearna, Newport, Ballina, Ballinamore, Drogheda and Skerries.
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