The Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland will be back on the roads of Co Clare next week, with 124 riders confirmed - according to the start list supplied - including 40 Irish cyclists. The Irish national team is a strong one - with some Team Ireland debutants. The North American challengers, who have taken overall victories and multiple stage wins in recent years, are back again with some aces in the pack.
The American Hot Tubes team - which won the last two editions of the race with Nicolas Rivard and AJ August - are back again this year, though they have listed only three riders in their team so far; Ben Stokes, Sasha Renaud Tremblay and Elias Saigh. Stokes was 2nd in the US TT championships last month - behind August - while Renaud Tremblay was 3rd in the Canadian TT championships and Saigh took bronze in the US road race championships.
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Even if they enter with three riders, they are a strong trio who will be in Ireland for results. The Irish team of Darragh O’Doherty, Oisin Ferrity, Killian O’Brien, Liam O’Brien and Cal Tutty will also be looking to impress - and have the legs to do so. We will have a standalone piece on the Irish challengers shortly.
Other overseas riders to watch include Charles Bergeron of Ignite Canada, who was 2nd in the TT and 4th in the road race at the Canadian nationals last month. His team mate Kaden Colling was 3rd and 5th at those championships.
North America aside, Team Scotland includes Finn Mason, the reigning British national junior road race champion. The Portugal selection includes Mestre Guilherme, who was recently 3rd in the road race at the nationals in Portugal. The Backstedt Bike Performance also looks like a strong line-up, with Matthew Gilmour one to watch, while another British team, Lee Valley, has Charlie Abraham, who won Grote Prijs Frank de Sy in Belgium in April.
The route
The race commences next Tuesday evening with a short and sharp 48km opener, starting and finishing in Barefield. Stage 2 sees the riders take on a 103km stage out to the west coast by Spanish Point, Lahinch, Cliffs of Moher, Corrofin and finishing on the Ennis bypass.
Stage 3 travels from Ennis westbound to Kilkee, a stage of 93.7 kilometres along the Shannon Estuary through Kilrush and onto the Wild Atlantic Way at Kilkee Cliffs before the fast finish into the seaside town.
Stage 4 is 111.7 kilometres and an adjusted stage from previous years based in the north of the county. Aillwee Caves play host to this years event for both the start and finish as the race departs on its usual early loop via Carron before racing through the Burren, Ballyvaughan and onto the Coast road for Doolin where the climb of Doonagore (Castle Hill) awaits. From there the riders will race back through the Burren via Lemenagh Castle before tackling the short steep finish to the entrance of Aillwee Cave.
Stage 5 is 87.5 kilometres and sees the riders travel into East Clare along the Tulla Road to Tuamgraney and Scarriff where a number of climbs greet the riders on the same roads as Rás Tailteann this year via Maghera, Crusheen and finishing at Barefield.
Finally stage 6 remains the same as previous years with 8 laps of a circuit on the outskirts of Ennis taking in the Kilrush road, Ballyea and racing back in the Kildysert road to finish at the Watertower on Clonroadbeg.
July 6th-12th | Junior Tour of Ireland
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IRELAND
- Darragh O’Doherty, Oisin Ferrity, Killian O’Brien, Liam O’Brien, Cal Tutty
Hot Tubes
- Ben Stokes, Sasha Renaud Tremblay, Elias Saigh
EF Education ONTO
- Reilly Oberding, Miles De Sousa, Ben McConchie, Rye Christman
BOULDER JUNIOR CYCLING
- Luke Robinso, Eli Deboom, Magnus White, Leif Bryan, Luke Walter
TEAM SWIFT
- Church Nolan, Child Asa, Will Cucco, Presley Evans, Julian Wang
VELOSPORT
- Jade Rhode, Brendan Luongo, Aiden Fraley, Alfredo Bueno, Alexander S Bungel
IGNITE CANADA
- Charles Bergerson, Kaden Colling, Hudson Lubbers, Jack Harris, Matt Glavich
TEAM CALIFORNIA BLUE
- Owen Irwin, Liam Olson, Nathan Perry, Odinn Thordarson, Lance Wong
Isle of Man
- Niall Colquitt, Callum Salisbury, James Scott, Ivan Sorby
SCOTLAND
- Ahron Dick, Noah Bleteau, Jake Speed, Finn Mason, Milo McIntosh
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CYCLING ULSTER
- Curtis Neil, Travis Harness, Jamie Moss, Jules Gerbaud, M Rocchi Sloan
PROLOGUE RACING TEAM
- Nathan Smith, Joseph Turnbull, Oliver Sergeant, Matthew Ellmore, Joel Hurt J
BACKSTEDT BIKE PERFORMANCE
- Matthew Gilmour, Daniel Llyod, Rhys Thomas, Robin Steer, Edward Charles
TEAM CALIFORNIA WHITE
- Truett Bennett, Benjamin Boroff, Evanisto S Obregon, Mateo Padilla
INNOVATION RACING
- Alexander Foster, John Bardsley, Archie Fletcher, Joe Watkins Wilson
CYCLING CONNACHT
- Jason Conboy, Kealan Ryan
VC VENTA
- Sam Talent, Bobby Buenfeld, Oscar Hoult
HALESOWEN
- Luke Brennan, Luke Mannings, Kaleb Herbert, Isaak Herbert, Luke Harris
LEE VALLEY YOUTH A
- Tom Mead, Paul Opie, Charlie Abraham, Ben Walker, Sam Leslie
LEE VALLEY YOUTH B
- Ethan Stortie, Stanley Cooke, Peter Ferguson
BRITISH CYCLING EAST
- Reece Pitman, Colin Pedan, William Pollard
TEMPO VELDHOVEN
- Ed Uptegrove, Chris Kisters, Ryno Schutte
PORTUGAL
- Rui Periquito, Mestre Guilherme, Tomas Mureno
ORWELL WHEELERS
- Mark Agent, Patrick O’Sullivan, Daniel Roberts, David Harrington, Joe Nathan Malar
TARRANT SKODA RED
- Sean Tarrant, Darragh Magee, A Lattimore, William O’Connor, Michael Collins
TARRANT SKODA WHITE
- Luke Costello, John Paul McManus, Tom Kinsella, Michael Foley
TARRANT SKODA GREY
- Hayden Power, Stephen Sheehan, Doonagh O’Connor
LEINSTER A
- Josh Callaly, Joseph Mullen, Tadhg Killeen, Joe Nathan Matar, Sean Tolan
LEINSTER B
- Callum Byrne, Rian Morgan, Ryan Walsh, Oisin Collins
Individuals
- Cormac McConville Ulster. Jude Davison CogSet Papyrus
