Mark Sehested Pedersen wins stage 4 of the 2012 Rás into Bundoran. His Denmark Blue Water Cycling is just one of a number of top teams who’ll be on the start line this year. (Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)
With less than two months to go to the biggest race on the domestic calendar in the shape of the An Post Rás, the first foreign teams have confirmed their participation this year. Irish riders will face a tough challenge from the Czech, Canadian and Danish teams gunning for success in the fast approaching 2013 edition.
New race director, Tony Campbell and his team revealed today that the Blue Water Cycling team from Denmark will be back next month in an effort to repeat their success of last year when their riders were among the very strongest in the field.
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In 2012 the team’s ambitious young line-up took two great stage wins, with Mark Sehested Pedersen winning stage four into Bundoran, denying Ronan McLaughlin (An Post) what would have been a heroic win into his native county after a near stage-long solo breakaway fell short in the finishing straight.
Not content with that win, the Danish outfit’s Lasse Norman Hansen was victorious three days later into Cootehill.
A mark of the team’s quality was confirmed later in the summer when the same Norman Hansen, who finished second in the Rás U23 classification last year, went on to claim Olympic gold in the omnium at the London Olympics.
According to Jacob Nielsen, who was second on stage 1 last year, the team is determined to perform at least as well as it did last May and to improve on their stage win tally and overall classification showing.
“We have no set leader as all the riders are able to do well, so we will see how things go,” he said.
While neither of their Rás 2012 stage winners is scheduled to take part this year, the team has a very strong line-up that will put it up to the best in the race and will prepare for the event by following a quality international programme in the weeks leading up to the Irish eight-day.
Nielsen (35) will be back and as a former world junior road race silver medallist and the 2009 winner of the UCI-ranked GP Copenhagen, he is capable of big performances.
The other four riders include former HTC Highroad professional Rasmus Guldhammer (24), who finished fourth overall in the 2.HC-ranked Tour of Denmark in 2009, plus the 2011 Tour of Norway runner-up Daniel Foder (29).
The team will likely be completed by Soren Pugdahl (25), a runner up in the 2009 GP Copenhagen, plus Morten Ollegaard, who bagged six wins last year.
Their build-up to the Rás includes four 1.2-ranked UCI races in Denmark this month: the GP Herning; the GP Skive; the GP Himmerland; and the GP Thy. Those races will be followed by two 1.2 races in Norway in early May, the GP Hadeland and the GP Ringerike – so they will have quality racing miles in their legs before stepping foot on Irish soil.
Also confirmed for this year’s Rás is the Canadian national team.
Like many nations, the Canadians are refocusing a little this year after the Olympic cycle and are putting an emphasis on bringing on some of their best U23 riders with a view to having them on the start line of the Rio Olympics in 2016.
While the Canadian federation has yet to confirm its line-up for the Rás, it will feature some of its best U23 riders who are just about to begin their Nations Cup campaign with three races next week, including the U23 Tour of Flanders.
“We are really looking forward to participating in the An Post Rás for the first time. We’ve heard good things about the event, and we are confident it will fit our riders well,” said Cycling Canada development coach and team manager Luc Arseneau.
He has narrowed down the list of potential riders for the Rás. These include Stuart Wight, the winner of the 2010 Junior Tour of Ireland, Canadian national track team rider Rémi Pelletier-Roy, 2012 Tour de Banff winner Kristofer Dahl, former under 23 Canadian criterium champion Garrett McLeod, national individual pursuit record holder Alex Cataford plus the 2011 Tour de l’Avenir runner-up David Boily.
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“The objective will be to gain more experience and to give it a good battle,” Arseneau said.
“As it will be a national team program, we have to wait a little bit more to know who will be the riders to watch, but we are confident we will be able to put a strong team together.”
Coming back this year after riding very strongly as a unit last year is the Czech Republic AC Sparta Praha, whose Martin Hunal finish 3rd overall in 2012. He was just 17 seconds behind overall winner Nicolas Baldo, was second on the tough stage 5 into Buncrana and finish second in the climbers’ classification.
Hunal, aged 23-years, will be back with the team this year; a year wiser and strong. And with vital experience of the Rás under his belt, he will be here to try and lift the 2013 title.
He will share team leadership with 27-year-old Tomas Okrouhlicky, who was third in the national time trial championships two years ago, and who could also challenge for Rás overall honours.
They will be backed by Rostislav Krotky, who will return to the race after supporting Hunal last year and picking up seventh on stage seven to Cootehill. Tomas Medek will also be supporting his joint team leaders. And 2010 Czech Cup in Plzen winner Jan Klabouch will also be a key member of their line-up this year.
“Martin Hunal or Tomas Okrouhlicky will lead the team and will have the goal of going for the podium,” said team manager Zdenek Rubas.
“Before the An Post Rás, we will do three Czech Cup races in preparation, as well as the GP Herning in Denmark, the Tour de Bern in the Czech Republic and about fifteen other races.”
Tony Campbell said he was delighted with the way the international challenge was shaping up in the run-up to his first Rás at the helm after he took over from Dermot Dignam in the top job following last year’s race.
Campbell said he believed the three foreign teams already confirmed could all make a serious assault on the race, pointing out that even the young Canadian team had a serious collective palmares that suggested real strength in depth.
“We expect another very good line-up this year, with many international teams set to take part. We’re confident that the Canadian national team will have some strong riders on board, and that they will add a lot to this year’s race,” he said.
“The Czech team rode very strongly last time round and with Martin Hunal going so close to success on a stage, in the mountains classification and the overall standings, he’s going to be very determined starting the race,” added Campbell.
“He’s also a year older and more experienced, and looks set to be one of the top contenders. The rest of the team looks very solid and I think the AC Sparta Praha riders will have a very big effect on this year’s race.”
Campbell believed the Danes had already more than proven their worth with their two stage wins last year and felt they would be out to impose themselves on the race again this time around.
“With two stage wins in 2012, the team performed very strongly. Now that they have the benefit of riding the race before, we believe the Denmark Blue Water team could be even better again. We look forward to seeing them in action.”
The 2013 An Post Rás will begin in Dunboyne on Sunday May 19th, the fourth consecutive year it has started there. It will then move counter-clockwise around the country, to include stage finishes in Longford, Nenagh, Listowel, Killarney, Glengarriff, Mitchelstown, Carlow and Naas, before concluding on Sunday May 26th with the customary finale in Skerries, north Co Dublin.
The race will feature 33 categorised climbs of which four are category one mountains and twelve are category two ascents.
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