Kai Reus wins the opening stage of the Tour of Portugal for United Healthcare in 2012. He will lead the Parkhotel Valkenburg team in this year's An Post Rás.
Two more international teams, one Dutch and one American, have been announced for the An Post Rás next month.
The leader of the Netherlands Parkhotel Valkenburg squad will be no stranger to Irish fans.
Kai Reus won the Junior Tour of Ireland in 2003 and went on to become junior world champion a few months later.
A crash in 2007, however, saw the then Rabobank rider suffer head injuries and end up in a coma, taking almost two years to return to the top level of the sport.
A stage win and fourth overall at the 2009 Tour of Britain was another peak before a bout of glandular fever saw him struggle and his career stopped and restarted twice, including a stint with Unitedhealthcare in 2012, before he joined the Parkhotel Valkenburg squad this year.
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A fourth place finish on a stage of this month’s Tour of Morocco however, indicates the young Ducthman is back to near his best.
“Kai is on his way back,” says team boss Paul Tabak.
“He just finished the 10-stage Tour of Morocco and made a good impression on me there. Our goals are to win a stage (in Ireland) and have a few riders up in the general classification.”
Double national time trial champion Reus will be joined by former Tour de Liege stage winners Jasper Ockeloen and Brian Bulgac, along with Tour of Morocco race leader Remco Broers. One more rider will be selected closer to the start date on May 18th.
Bulgac spent two years with the Lotto-Belisol WorldTour team and, according to Tabak he will be a real contender in the eight day race.
“The strength of the team is that we are able to have a few leaders. At this particular moment I seem them as Reus, Bulgac and Ockeloen.”
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The second squad confirmed today is the USA Smart Shop team containing Canadian national champion and 2012 Olympian Zach Bell.
Zach Bell wins stage four of the 2013 Tour of Taiwan. He will ride with the Smart Shop team in the Ras.
Former Grand Prix Pino Cerami winner Jure Kocjan and Mount Hood Classic stage winner Rob Britton will also compete, with two more slots yet to be finalised.
“Our goal is stage hunting,” says Smart Shop manager and former Rás rider Mike Creed.
“I think our riders are all capable of showing the race a great amount of respect by riding well and being competitive.
"We will ride the tour of the Gila before the Rás. It’s a race at altitude and because of that, it should be good preparation. Still, we are aware that the weather and the wind in Ireland will also be a big factor in how the race turns out.”
The teams will join national squads from Belgium, Canada and New Zealand, as well as Continental teams from Austria, Germany, Norway, Azerbaijan, Ireland and Britain on the start line in Dunboyne on Sunday May 18th.
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