Start lists and preview | Heavy hitters out for National Crit Champs, Dublin | Sticky Bottle

John Buller knows how to win the National Criterium Champions and the course in Dublin tomorrow looks well-suited to him

Criterium racing is returning to Dublin city centre tomorrow, Sunday, with a full day of racing – several support events being run before the two National Criterium Championship races.

While those title races are in the men’s and women’s senior categories, juniors can ride, and no shortage of those younger riders have entered. Though the Masters race is, unfortunately, not for a national title this time around, there is a very competitive field entered (see start list below).

This is a very technical course, with a short section of cobbles, including multiple changes of surface, with the wind off the water inclined to whip through the buildings in this area of town. It may prove a factor on the day.

It’s very likely it will split to pieces, with lots of riders being lapped. It promises to be a day of classic criterium racing on a course of 980m with six corners; a very tight and technical city centre course best-suited to criterium specialists.

Last year it was Dean Harvey, then riding for Martigues Sport Cyclisme, who emerged victorious to claim the senior men’s title in Limerick.

He has been having a break ahead of an expected cyclocross campaign at home and abroad later this year, meaning he is not back to defend his crown on the Grand Canal Dock course.

However, there are other previous winners in the men's race – including John Buller (Banbridge CC) – along with plenty of in-form riders. The up-and-comers, juniors and first-year U23s, may also have a say.

Buller will be hard to beat if he gets a run at the line as his gallop is something special when he unleashes it. It is perhaps the type of finish where the first rider into the last corner will be very hard to overtake, and that sounds like John Buller territory.

There are six corners and the longest straight is just shy of 300m, meaning the strongest riders may get a very limited chance to get the power on; something that will play into the hands of the fast twitch men.

There is a team prize in this race and one striking feature of the start list is the number of very strong teams, including APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence; the Irish group within the US-registered UCI Continental team.

Conn McDunphy, who won the Shay Elliott Memorial last Sunday is in there for the US team and he’d love to turn on the power and add an Irish criterium title to the elite TT crown he won six years ago in Co Limerick.

But he has three team mates in this race – Ronan O’Connor, first-year U23 Matthew Walls and Cian Keogh – and, in the right scenario, any one of them could also medal.

If McDunphy – who has turned himself into a fantastic rider over the years – is on song tomorrow, and things go well for him, it could be a painful hour of racing for many others in the field.

However, this course is one that perhaps does not suit him as much as he might like, given the sheer frequency of the corners and lack of longer stretches to turn the power on.

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Elsewhere, Jack Conroy has been looking very good this season and has plenty of experience on the Belgian kermesse scene in recent years. Tomorrow could be a big chance for him.

The Velo Performance man also has strong team mates in this race in the shape of Luca Holmes, Eoghan Lattimorem, Chris Marshall and Tom Heulin. They will go into this event feeling they can take a medal, maybe even gold.

Pinergy Orwell also go in with plenty of firepower and Evan Keane – the former track runner turned prolific road rider – looks like the pick of the group for Sunday’s assignment.

He definitely has the kind of finishing kick required to win a medal, but he obviously needs to be in the group sprinting for victory. Lining out with him in the colours of Orwell are Sean Landers, David Greene and Sean O’Kane.

Caldwell Powerhouse Racing only has two men in the race – Lindsay Watson and Oisin Ferrity – but both could have a big say.

Similarly, though Dan Morrissey Pissei Cycling Team and Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospatial each have only two riders on the start list, they are strong; Mark McGarry and Conal Scully as well as Tadgh Killeen and junior Conor Regan.

Caleb McGreevy has proven himself a very strong junior rider, even though his career is only starting, and is already one of the most versatile riders in the bunch, representing Ireland this year on both road and MTB.

He is accompanied by his Région Sud Cycling Academy, French junior team, colleague James Armstrong tomorrow. And the duo will look to get into the mix; ditto first-year junior Rian McCrystal (Cannibal B Victorious).

It’s unfair to put too much pressure on the likes of McCrystal and McGreevy, but riders like them – and you could also throw Kileen into the mix – who have plenty of cyclocross experience, with enhanced technical abilities and used to the sting of stop-start racing, might do quite well on this course.

Toby Sweetman (VC Glendale) won a stage of the Junior Tour of Ireland last year and, now a first-year U23, he could do some damage, as could Travis Harkness (Unattached Ulster) and Philip O’Connor, surprisingly, the only Burren Cycling Club rider on the start list but a quality bike rider.

UCD Cycling Club also has a strong line-up with Jason Kenny, Eoin Kelly, Ruairi Byrne, Conor Murnane, Hugh Butler and Sean Lundy. However, while Murnane is the best sprinter out of that group, which would usually make him a good bet, he has done very little racing of late.

The event will be based in the Bike Week event village in Grand Canal Square, with the start adjacent on Hanover Quay. There will be toilets, first aid and vendors available there.

All races will start from the junction of Hanover Quay and Blood Stoney Road. Riders will be corralled on the right side of Hanover Quay before being let onto the course. The corral will open 10 minutes before the scheduled race starts.

The full schedule is as follows:

10:00am Road Closed
10:15am Masters support race (45 minutes plus 3 laps)
11:15am Paracycling and Family cycle
12:00 noon U12 Boys and Girls support race (5 laps)
12:20pm U14 and U16 Girls support race (15 minutes plus 3 laps)
12:45pm Open Practice
1pm Women’s National Criterium Championship (1hr plus 5 laps)
2:20pm Brompton Race
2:45pm Open Practice
3pm U14 Boys support race (15 minutes plus 3 laps)
3:30pm U16 Boys support race (25 minutes plus 3 laps)
4:05pm Open Practice
4:20pm Men's National Criterium Championship (1hr plus 5 laps)
6pm Road re-opens

The men's championship race is for junior, senior and masters riders. There will also be a team category, though it will only be awarded if at least three teams, of three riders, enter the race.

The women's championship race is also for senior, junior and masters riders, and the same stipulation applies to the awarding of a team national title prize - gold medals - for the winners; three teams must enter.