Sam Bennett (leading) is part of a strong An Post-Chainreaction team in a quality Irish and foreign field at the Suir Valley Three Day in Clonmel this weekend.
By Brian Canty
Featuring a team full of potential winners, the An Post Chainreaction squad are the men to beat in this weekend’s Suir Valley Three-Day in Clonmel, Tipperary .
The six-man selection of Irishmen Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin, Sean Downey and Jack Wilson as well as UK-rider Kieran Frend and Kiwi Shane Archbold have more experience of racing at home and abroad than most others in the 145-rider field and crucially have raced at a higher level too.
It’s a major coup for the organisers of one of the country’s showpiece stage races that the Belgian-based team have opted to come to the race in Ireland this weekend, but they can expect strong challenges from several other top quality teams.
The Irish-registered Continental 'Polygon Sweet Nice Racing Team' have four of the best mainly home-based riders in their ranks and in there is Ryan Sherlock, who wore the yellow jersey last year before being relieved of it on the final day.
Barry Twohig of Blarney CC won last year’s event against all the odds but he’s not back to defend his title as he has been injured for most of this season, so this could be Sherlock’s year.
The Monaghan man won last weekend’s Tour of Connacht in tremendous fashion and he’ll have the support of talented all-rounders Charlie Prendergast, Mark Dowling and Stephen Halpin this weekend; though Dowling and Prendergast would not be surprise winners overall while Halpin will fancy his chances of stage glory.
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Another home-based team, the Cork-based Aquablue squad are spearheaded by the inaugural winner of the Suir Valley in 2007, Sean Lacey. He’s the only former winner set to start this year’s race.
The Tralee man won Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in 2011 and has once again this year been one of the most consistent performers on the domestic scene.
He’ll be backed this weekend by Keith Gator, Robin Kelly, Maurice Lawlor, John McCarthy and Olan Barrett and could be there or thereabouts come Monday.
The Planet Tri team also have a team stacked with talent with former An Post rider Paidi O’Brien their star turn. O’Brien is currently the highest ranked domestic amateur and he’ll have the support of Barry Meade, Eddie Barry, Mick Storan and Michael Crowley.
UCD CC have a very strong-looking team entered and last year they were one of the best teams of the race and had a man in every important move.
Eoin Morton, Sean McKenna, Joseph Breheny, Ian Richardson and Ciaran O Conluain carry the club's hopes and you can expect all five to be in the thick of things from the start.
South Dublin CC also have the look of an aggressive line-up, with Art McManusa leading a team that also includes former triathlete James Davenport, Mark Gill, Niall Somers and Craig Arrigan.
There are also strong entries from Dungarvan, Phoenix and Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers. It will also be interesting to see how the Nicholas Roche Performance Team fare in what is set to be the junior squad's biggest test of the season to date.
Of the UK teams, the Rapha-Condor-JLT squad look most likely to threaten for both stages and the overall. Though they are a youthful outfit, they will make an impact on the race.
In their ranks are two Irishmen, Aaron Buggle and Felix English and the latter is in superb form right now, having taken a string of victories in England over the last two months.
Buggle has been unlucky with crashes this year and has only just recovered from a nasty crash back in June but on his day he has the winning of the race. He was fifth overall in the An Post Rás back in May when he crashed hard and had to withdraw.
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If he is over his recent mishap he will be right in the mix this weekend. Backing him up will be Will Stephenson, Ed Laverty and Hugh Carthy, three of the brightest prospects on the UK scene.
There’s also a team from the Isle of Man coming over and they had three men well placed on GC last year before making a real mess of the final day. So they’ll be hoping for more this year, with Jonathan Creegan and Jake Kelly leading their charge.
There are plenty of jerseys on offer over the four stages and as well as the usual yellow (overall), polka dot (mountains), green (points), and pink (hot spot) jerseys, there’s the blue jersey for the best placed A2 rider on GC and the red jersey for the best A3 rider.
For the second year running, there’s a jersey for the most aggressive rider in memory of the late Paul Healion.
The stages themselves are slightly changed from last year, but the race is no less difficult.
Tomorrow's, Saturday’s, opener starts and finishes in Clonmel but not before riders tackle 115 kilometres of racing over three categorised climbs; two of those come in the latter half of the stage and should blow the race to pieces.
Sunday’s second stage is a little easier, and shorter, but the 92 kilometre trek, again starting and finishing in Clonmel is a fast one and riders are expected back into the town in less than two hours.
Sunday night sees the riders tackle a criterium race around Clonmel; a 2.1 kilometre circuit that riders will race around for around 50 minutes (45 minutes and three laps).
This is one for the fast men and should suit the likes of Paidi O’Brien (Planet Tri), Felix English (Rapha-Condor JLT) and Sam Bennett (An Post Chainreaction).
The final stage has the air of a real showdown about it and features a category one summit finish atop ‘The Nire’. There are also two category two climbs before it; the Vee and ‘Colligan’.
Racing starts in Clonmel at 1pm tomorrow, Saturday, and concludes on Monday around 2pm.
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