The Des Hanlon Memorial is the big one on the Irish domestic racing calendar this weekend but the organisers have warned there is a new sign-on location, a new route and there are NO one-day licences available.
News Shorts, March 17th
Mark Dowling
Mark Dowling has emerged as a doubt for Sunday’s Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow.
The defending champion is on anti-biotics for the next week and is likely to give the race a miss in order to be fully fit for the Kerry group Rás Mumhan a week from tomorrow.
“I’ve been healthy all winter but been on antibiotics today for a week, I’m fuming,” said the ASEA-Wheelworx man.
“I should be strong for Rás Mumhan but Sunday is looking like a miss for me.”
In his expected absence he reckons any one of five could win.
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“Roger Aiken for the win but Michael O'Loughlin (Team WIGGINS) is a dark horse.
“Sean McKenna (Aquablue), Sean Lacey (Aquablue), Adam Armstrong, Roger (both ASEA-Wheelworx) and Michael for the top five, not exactly in that order.”
Ryan Mullen
Though Ryan Mullen is eligible for the U23 World Championships time-trial in October, it is unlikely he will actually compete in the event.
UCI regulations state that any rider who competes for his trade team in the team time-trial event in Qatar is ineligible for the U23 individual event.
“Mullen is eligible but it depends,” explained Cycling Ireland technical director Brian Nugent.
“If he’s selected to ride for Cannondale in the team time-trial, which he most likely will be, then he can’t do it, but if he’s not then he’s free to do it.
“Of course he’d like to go back and finish that job (U23 ITT), we had a good run at that one (in 2013), he’d like to ride it but it’s more important to ride the team time-trial, so if he gets a ride in the TTT he won’t do it.”
Des Hanlon sign-on & route
The organisers of Sunday’s Des Hanlon Memorial classic in Carlow have reminded those planning on travelling to the race that the sign-on is different to previous years.
Traditionally, sign-on has taken place at Graiguecullen GAA club but that has been changed for this year, with Tougher’s restaurant on the Dublin Road being the place where riders should go.
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Sign-on for all senior races will open at 10am with underage races accepting entrants from 9am.
Also, there are no one-day licences available on the day.
The route for the race sees a slight change to previous years.
The separate A1 race will cover three laps for 152 kilometres. The A2 race will be the same length. The A3s and juniors will race for two laps (114k) while A4s and women (separate races) will do one lap for 57 kilometres.
Here is the map of the route. Here is the location for sign-on.
Weather outlook: Cloudy with a light northerly breeze. At present, there is a 0% chance of rain.
Dublin Thunder-World Track League
Ireland will be represented by a seven-strong contingent of riders at the inaugural World Cycling League this coming weekend.
The event is getting huge traction Stateside and the Dublin Thunder squad of Eoin Morton, Con Collis (both UCD-Fitzcycles CC), Fintan Ryan (Dunboyne CC), Eammon Byrne, Lydia Gurley, Eimear Moran and Susie Mitchell (all Sundrive Track Team) are all in top condition.
To watch events over the weekend, keep an eye on the official website here.
Philip Deignan
It’s been an incredibly frustrating few months for fans of Philip Deignan as his 2016 racing season has been put on halt.
The Letterkenny man has been pulled from almost half a dozen races already this year, including Strade-Bianche and more recently, yesterday’s Nokere Koerse.
However, at the time of publishing he was still on the start-list for the Handzame Classic tomorrow, Friday.
The race is ranked as a 1.1 and is 200 kilometres in length.
Hopefully, Deignan is one of three Irish riders who take to the start-line tomorrow, with the An Post Chainreaction duo of Connor McConvey and Jack Wilson also getting the nod.
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