Irish duo in form for Tour of Langkawi

CYCLING: Giant Asia riders David McCann and Paul Griffin are hoping for a strong showing in the Tour de Langkawi, which starts today in Kuala Lumpur. Both Irishmen have shown good form of late, McCann winning two stages of the recent Tour of Thailand and Griffin placing third on a stage.

Although the level of competition will be higher in the Malaysian tour due to the large number of European teams present, the two will hope to take some world ranking points from the 2.HC race.

"I'm not sure what to expect, but hopefully it will go well," said McCann yesterday.

"I'd like to give it a go in the time trial and see how I compare to the other guys. It will be a good test before the Commonwealth Games in March. I have a slight cold now but it should clear up soon."

Griffin comes into this race still suffering from a crash in Tour of Thailand.

"My hip is still sore at the moment," he said, "but hopefully it will settle down over the next few days. My aim will be to try to get into a breakaway during the week and get up on a stage."

The Irish duo will be up against professionals from three ProTour squads - Credit Agricole, AG2R Prévoyance and Bouygues Telecom, plus those from teams such as Colombia Selle Italia, Ceramica Panaria Navigare, Navigators Insurance, Relax-Gam, Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, LPR, Wiesenhof and Recycling.co.uk.

The race begins today with a short 81.1km stage from KL Tower to Rawang. It continues until Sunday week.

Meanwhile, the duo's Giant Asia team-mate, Stephen Gallagher, has travelled to Australia after his excellent third overall in the Tour of Thailand. He will train there in preparation for the Commonwealth Games, taking a break from that to compete in the Tour of Taiwan.

AG2R Prévoyance professional Philip Deignan had also been planning to ride in the Games but now looks likely to miss that due to the broken collarbone he sustained on Tuesday. Deignan fell five kilometres from the end of the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise and is likely to be out for several weeks.

Team-mate Mark Scanlon finished 121st in the event and then placed 134th on Wednesday's opening leg of the Etoile de Bessèges stage race.

Meanwhile, Cofidis pro Nicolas Roche has also got his season under way, finishing 130th, 95th and 86th in the opening three stages of the Tour of Qatar.

This left him 97th overall heading into yesterday's fourth leg. The race has seen some highly impressive sprinting from world champion Tom Boonen. He has won each of the stages thus far, adding to his victory in last Friday's Doha GP.

FIXTURES: Saturday: Women's training spin. Starts at the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park at 10am. Beginners welcome.

XC Youth Beginner Spin. Meet at the Gala Shop, Lamb's Cross, Sandyford at 10am. Contact Richie Byrne at 087 6376065.