The kit may have changed this year, but DMG Visit Nenagh will again be hunting for a win in their home classic this weekend
By Brian Canty
Sunday’s Visit Nenagh Classic is shaping up to build on the success of last year's inaugural event, with 200 riders already pre-entered for a two-day programme of racing.
Though Sunday’s road races will undoubtedly attract most of the attention, there is the matter of a team time-trial to consider on Saturday with several of the country’s top riders vying for that.
Top Dutch club team, the NWVG Bike4Air squad, will be making the trip over to these shores while a TV crew from the same country is also set to be in the Tipperary town for the weekend to record the events.
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“Everything is slowly coming together now,” explained race organiser Rene Van Dam.
“The sign-on figure so far is very good and at the moment we have over 70 A1s and A2s as well as the Dutch team so that’s good. We have teams from Castlebar, Aquablue, the north, Fermoy, Bohermeen, Lakeside, East Antrim, Polygon Sweet Nice, Orwell, UCD and a load of others, so it’s quite a good mixture. David McCann even rang me for information so he’s interested as well. So there’s been serious interest. We’ll have a development team from Connacht so it’s going to be big. Maybe bigger than last year.”
Picking a winner won’t be easy with such a star-studded line-up set to descend on the town but Van Dam says it’s going to be a strong man who will win, rather than a climber.
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“You have to be a strongman, it’s not a climber’s circuit,” he said.
“Most of the climbs can be done by strong men. Our own man Richard Hooton was fourth last year but had to do a major comeback towards the end, it’s a typical classic circuit, like what you’d see in Liege or the Amstel Gold, rolling roads."
“The best club team in Holland last year, NWVG Bike4Air, they’re an elite squad and they’ll be ones to watch. But we could have a home winner too. Last year we had a great winner in Timmy Barry, there were no ifs or buts about his win, he was the best. His team-mates Sean Lacey and Damien Shaw were down training here recently, they weren’t here for a holiday and they’ll be there or thereabouts too.”
Dylan Foley would appear to be the man to beat in the A3 ranks and the course is certain to suit him but with such a strong clutch of A3s out there at present, like last weekend’s winner in Minane Bridge Eddie Dunbar, it really is wide open.
Though cycling packs the agenda, Van Dam was keen to stress there is plenty on offer for all the family and encouraged as many as possible to come to Nenagh and support the race.
“It’s not only about cycling, it’s a festival for the family,” he said.
“Once the race starts, there’s a market with food and crafts available, kids entertainment, there’s a family fun cycle on a dedicated cycle track around the town, street entertainment, live DJ and music, the whole town centre is traffic free for the day.”
All the information is available on their website http://www.nenagh.ie/festivals/visit-nenagh-classic#race-program
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