Belgian Moreno De Pauw wins stage five of last year's An Post Ras, having jumped clear of breakaway partners Rasmus Guldhamer and Conor McConvey into the last corner in Mitchelstown(Photo: www.blackumbrella.ie)
One year after jumping clear of a three man breakaway group to win stage five of the An Post Ras into Mitchelstown, Belgian rider Moreno De Pauw will return to the race in May.
National omnium champion De Pauw will join his Topsport Vlaanderen teammates Kenny de Ketele, Jasper De Buyst, Otto Vergaerde and Jonas Rickaert, as part of a strong Belgian national track team to take part in the eight day race.
Although members of the national track team, all five have had success on the road with Topsport Vlaanderen and De Pauw, De Buyst and de Ketele all rode the Rás last year
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Apart from De Pauw’s stage win, the Belgian squad made their presence felt with de Ketele, one of the most aggressive riders on the penultimate stage of last year’s race, securing an eventual fifth place overall in the mountain’s competition and De Buyst ending the race in tenth overall and taking second in the Irish Sports Council under-23 classification. .
“Our goals are to win a stage and to take a top five overall finish in the final ranking,” said team manager Jos Smets.
“We won’t start with designated leaders, but Kenny De Ketele and Jasper De Buyst are the most experienced riders. The leadership will depend of the results of the first few stages.”
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The second international team to be announced for this year’s Rás is a strong line up from New Zealand.
It includes three members of the bronze-medal winning team from last month's world track championships; namely Dylan Kennett, Piet Bulling and Marc Ryan. The latter will be remembered by Irish fans as the rider who snatched the bronze medal from Ireland’s Ryan Mullen in the individual pursuit at the Cali worlds.
The Kiwi squad will be completed by Cameron Karwowski and Hamish Schruers.
“The team goals are to race hard as the event will act as important stimulus in the build-up to the Commonwealth Games,” said national coach Dayle Cheatley.
“We will be looking for stage wins in both sprint finishes and long breakaways.”
An Post Rás race director, Tony Campbell believes the two squads will play an important part in how the race unfolds.
“As we’ve seen in the past, track teams have the pure speed and group discipline to really shake things up,” he said.
“In addition to chasing sprint wins, these attributes will also enable Belgium and New Zealand to really ride aggressively during the An Post Rás and to influence the final general classification.”
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