A strong Irish team has been named for the four-stage Kreiz Breizh Elites (2.2) stage race which gets underway in France tomorrow. The Irish line-up includes road captain Matt Teggart (WiV SunGod) and five U23 riders.
Among them are Rás Tailteann stage winners Adam Ward (SmartDry-Girona Cycling City) and Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing). Paul Antoine Hagan, the Banbridge CC rider who made the Irish team for the Rás, gets another call up for national team duties.
Matthew Devins, the Trinity Racing rider who rode strongly on the Irish team at Flèche du Sud in May, is also back in the Irish team after recovering from a crash while riding well in the Rás last month.
Finally, the team is completed by Odhran Doogan of Caldwell Cycles; the youngest in the line-up at 18 years. The first-year U23 has been one of the breakthrough riders of the season to date, with a fine stage win at Kerry Group Rás Mumhan and 2nd and 5th place finishes on the Rás.
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It will be particularly interesting to see what Ward and McCambridge can do considering their performances in the Rás, both taking impressive stage wins and proving well able to animate the action.
Teggart is a very experienced road captain and given his strength and experience he is the ideal candidate for the role and can also threaten for a stage win, as can the others.
The race, in Brittany, gets underway tomorrow with a 12.5km TT in Ploumagoar, where McCambridge will fancy his chances of a result to get the ball rolling for the Irish.
Once that test is done, the riders then face three road stages of 200.3km, 187.5km and 186.4km. While there are no major climbs on the route, each stage is undulating and the frequent short and short climbs can force splits and will make for very attritional racing.
