Sean Downey was 30th in his season opener at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne last Sunday. The Banbridge man is one of three Irishmen on the start-list for the Three Days of West Flanders which gets underway with a seven-kilometre time-trial.
Ireland has three riders at the 2.1-ranked Three Days of West Flanders which gets underway this evening and concludes on Sunday.
The An Post Chainreaction duo of Conor Dunne and Sean Downey have been given the nod to start by their team.
And four-time national road race champion Matt Brammeier (MTN-Quebeka) is also back in action.
Downey showed he had no problem making the switch from the track back to the road last weekend when he was active in his first race of the season at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne while Dunne also looked very strong.
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Brammeier is no stranger to the tough Belgian races and after a brilliant ride at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last Saturday where he rode out front for the guts of 140 kilometres in the break he’ll hope to emulate that display – or go even better.
This will be his fourth time doing the race which features today’s 7km prologue followed by back-to-back road stages of 174km and 184 kilometres.
Brammeier, second from left, on one of the early cobble sections before his driving on the climbs split the escape last Saturday (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
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Tomorrow’s stage features a number of sharp pinches either side of one ascent of the Kwaremont while Sunday is something similar and features a few stinging climbs around the midway point.
Towards the finish there are several laps of a local hilly circuit.
The An Post Chainreaction team has named a strong eight-man selection for the race with star rider and new signing Aidis Kruopis returning after breaking his arm during their team training camp in January.
The talented Lithuanian sprinter brings a wealth of talent and experience to the squad and manager Kurt Bogaerts is happy to see his return to competitive action.
“It’s good to have Aidis back competing after his layoff and we are hoping for some progression with him.
“It will be a tough three days in Flanders with the time trial and the two stages over the weekend, but it will be a good step forward for the rest of the year.
“As always, we’ll continue to ride aggressively and compete as a team.”
