News has already broken that Carrick sprinter Sam Bennett will not ride the National Championships and now other big names are ruled out or at serious risk. One is 2008 champion Dan Martin, seen here battling up the La Redoute climb in Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2009 for Garmin-Slipstream in his national champion's kit (Photo: Sirotti)
Following on from news that Sam Bennett will not ride the National Road Race Championships in Omagh at the end of the month, it has emerged other major names are also a doubt for the showdown.
However, a fantastic weekend’s racing is in store whether the biggest names in the pro game compete or not.
Former champion Nicolas Roche of Team Sky has yet to make any public comment on his participation, but stickybottle understands he will not be travelling to Ireland for the last weekend in June.
Advertisement
Like Bennett, he will opt to stay in mainland Europe as he puts the finishing touches to his Tour de France preparations.
That includes resting as much as possible before the three-week race starting the weekend after the championships.
Similarly, Dan Martin of Cannondale-Garmin is yet to state whether he will ride the title race.
Roche in the Irish national champion’s jersey at Paris-Nice in 2010. He will not ride the title race late this month.
But Martin is expected to join Bennett and Roche in opting out of travelling back to Ireland so soon before the Tour start on July 4th, just six days after the men’s championship road race.
Martin rode the championships in Westmeath last year after an absence of two years.
He was on the recovery road at the time, having crashed in the Giro d’Italia in May and broken his collarbone.
As a result, he did not ride the Tour de France in July and so faced no dilemma over whether he would come to Ireland or not.
He missed the winning breakaway and had to be content with 8th after he and Damien Shaw caught all of the early escapees bar six.
Ryan Mullen took the title solo for An Post-Chainreaction, with team mate Sean Downey 2nd and Paidi O'Brien 3rd.
Deignan drives the breakaway on stage 1 of the Tour de Yorkshire last month. He is in contention to ride the Tour de France for Team Sky, though its line-up has not been named yet.
Martin won the combined U23 and elite title race at a canter in Midleton, Co Cork, in 2008 when he was still an U23 rider.
He had taken silver in the U23 race in 2006 in Westport, where David McCann took the elite title and Paidi O’Brien retained the U23 crown.
Martin was 3rd in Sligo in 2010 when Matt Brammeier won and was 2nd again to Brammeier in Monaghan the following year.
Related News
Martin has had a quiet season so far but with many of the stages of the Tour de France finishing atop short sharp climbs and long mountain ascents that suit him, he will go to the line as a favourite to take another stage win.
If his form is good, he could also challenge for the yellow jersey during the race and is an outside bet for a final podium place.
Brammeier winning the elite men’s national road race championships for the third time in a row in Clonmel in 2012. His finger to the lips gesture was a reference to his non selection at that time for the London Olympics (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
Roche has been a team leader in the Tour de France in the past with Ag2r and was 12th in the race in 2012.
He will be riding for team leader Chris Froome this time around, with the Briton’s bid for a second overall win his squad’s biggest goal of the season.
Roche was national champion in Dunboyne in 2009 when he beat Davy O’Loughlin and Paidi O’Brien.
He was 3rd in 2004 when O’Loughlin won the title in Sligo and David McCann was 2nd.
And Roche was 2nd in Sligo again in 2010 and in Clonmel in 2012; beaten on both occasions by four-time champion Matt Brammeier.
Roche’s and Martin’s anticipated absence from this year’s championships is, like Bennett’s, a disappointment but not entirely unexpected as Roche last year and in 2012 missed the race to focus in his Tour build up.
Bennett in yellow at the Bayern Rundfahrt stage race in Germany three weeks ago. He would have been a contender for the national title. But his team's hopes of Tour de France stage wins have scuppered his participation in Omagh.
Philip Deignan, who has been going very well this season, is in contention for a ride in the Tour de France with Team Sky. It would be his debut in the event.
However, until his Tour participation is firmed up one way or the other, it is unclear if he will ride in Omagh.
Brammeier has not been selected to ride the Tour for his MTN-Qhubeka team despite some excellent form to date this season.
The African squad is plumping for riders from the home Continent, with seven named in an 11-man short list for the nine-berth Tour team.
As a result, Brammeier is expected to ride the championships. And even if the others were riding he would go the line as a hot favourite to take what would be his fifth elite title in six outings.
Topics
