CYCLING:RACING STRONGLY in Belgium this week, defending champion Gediminas Bagdonas showed his form is in the right place to try to pick up a second edition of the An Post Rás. The Lithuanian won the Puivelde Koerse event and will line out at the start of the Rás on Sunday in a confident frame of mind.

Bagdonas will be one of four former winners in the line-up, with 1997 champion Andy Roche (Isle of Man), 2004 victor David McCann (Taiwan RTS Racing Team) and 2009 title-holder Simon Richardson of the British IG-Sigma Sport squad also set to take part.

Their squads will be part of an impressive line-up of 17 foreign teams confirmed for the eight-day, world-ranked race, with the field being completed by 18 Irish county squads.

Bagdonas is part of a determined An Post Grant Thornton Seán Kelly team which also includes the talented Irish quartet of Ronan McLaughlin, Seán Downey, Connor McConvey and Sam Bennett, who became one of the youngest stage winners when he triumphed into Clara three years ago.

Labelled as one of the toughest in many years by race director Dermot Dignam, the 60th An Post Rás will scale 28 categorised climbs in 1,168 kilometres of racing.

This year, traditional climbs in Cork and Kerry will be avoided as the race is based in in the centre, west and northwest of the country. Donegal is the location for three stage finishes, of which two come on the heaviest days of climbing in this year’s race.

A bunch gallop is expected for the 147-kilometre opening stage from Dunboyne to Kilkenny, but Dignam predicts things could break up somewhat on the hillier second and third stages to Gort and Westport.

Stage four should, however, see a bunch sprint into Bundoran.

Days five and six will be the toughest of the race, with the first of those being marked by five category three climbs, the category two Pinch Mountain and, significantly, the gruelling Mamore Gap before a finish in Buncrana.

The next day’s race to Killybegs is defined by the inclusion of the category one Glengesh Pass plus the category two climbs of Meenirroy, Bogagh and Bavin.

The final outcome will be settled on stages seven and eight, to Cootehill and Skerries respectively.

Meanwhile, a number of current and former Irish sporting stars will line out in the second Race the Rás, covering the same route ahead of the elite riders each day. Last year’s event was highly successful, raising €150,000, and this year the organisers have said they want to raise €250,000 for the charities Aware and the National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI).

Details of how to donate and also how to ride one or more of the stages can be found on Racetheras.com.