Troels Vinther is one rider the An Post Rás peloton will need to watch very closely next month. The Danish rider has raced with Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank in the WorldTour as recently as 2012.
By Brian Canty
With the country’s only UCI-ranked stage race less than eight weeks away, a number of top teams from abroad have confirmed their participation for the eight-day race (May 22-29).
America, Australia and Denmark will all be represented this year with what look like formidable line-ups.
The standout team in terms of profile here is a national selection from Down Under and though their roster is not yet set in stone, suffice to say it will be seriously strong.
One name likely to be in Dublin Castle for the start of stage one next month is former world road and track paracyclist Alistair Donohoe.
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The 20-year-old has limited use in his right arm, allowing him compete in the C5 paracycling category but he also races on the road was part of the Australian team in the U23 road race at the World Road Race Championships in Richmond last year.
19-year-olds Daniel Fitter, Lucas Hamilton and Michael Storer are also likely to be given the nod.
The latter took a bronze medal from the World Junior time-trial championships in Spain in 2014.
He was also the Best Young Rider in this year’s 1.1-ranked Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
The fifth rider is yet to be named but it’s pretty much their national U23 team that will take part in a number of UCI-ranked races this month, including the Nations Cup races.
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Jonas Aaen Jørgensen has raced with Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank in the past and has a Vuelta A Espana to his name.
Another Australian team, Cisco RT will travel to Europe with a squad of eight riders, five of whom will get picked for the An Post Rás.
They race at a high level out of their base in Brisbane and regularly lock horns with established heavyweights on the Australian scene like Avanti, Drapac and Budget Forklifts.
Also coming to Ireland are the Danish Riwal Platform squad, a powerful team that will feature ex-WorldTour men.
Along with the aforementioned Jorgensen, they boast another ex-WorldTour man in their ranks in Troels Vinther.
Completing the line-up are Patrick Clausen who took UCI victories in 2012 and 2013, while Nicolai Brøchner is also a very fast finisher.
Rasmus Mygind is the fifth and final guy and he also boasts an impressive CV having finished second in the mountains classification in the Tour de Normandie last week and was runner-up in the 2014 Tour Loir de Cher.
Finally, the CCB International team from the US will make the journey to Ireland and they possess a squad of riders at various stages of their careers.
The best of them could be Tim Mitchell won the road race and time trial at the 2011 Masters’ World Championships.
The other riders are Noah Granigan, Ethan Reynolds, Corey Small and Kai Wiggins.
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