Irish duo start to wind down

Cycling: ProTour duo Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan will bring their seasons to a close this weekend, giving the riders the chance for a well-deserved break from competition.

Both Irishmen are due to line out in tomorrow's prestigious Tour of Lombardy, one of the toughest and most spectacular one-day events on the ProTour calendar. As part of his preparation, Roche rode Paris-Bourges last Thursday and performed aggressively, going clear as part of a breakaway move during the race.

This was, however, reeled back and he placed 27th out of the 159 starters in the race. It was the final event in the 2007 French Cup, and he finished a solid 16th in the standings plus seventh in the classification for young riders.

Deignan competed in two pre-Lombardy events last weekend. He was 29th in the tough Giro dell'Emilia and then 81st in the GP Beghelli Milan-Vignola the following day.

After tomorrow's Classic, Roche has one last appointment before hanging up his racing wheels for a couple of months. The Irish time trial champion will compete in the Chrono des Nations TT event in Les Herbiers in western France.

National road race title-holder Siobhan Dervan (Lotto Belisol) will go in the women's time trial and is aiming to do well at the end of what has been a strong season for her.

Meanwhile, another of Ireland's female riders will have some high-level competition when Kate Rudd lines out in the first Revolution track meet of the current season in Manchester Velodrome tomorrow.

The MyHome.ie/BDBC rider was given an invitation by the race organisers following a good showing in the ACT track league last Friday. She is planning regular track racing during the winter in the hope of riding some World Cup events.

In other news, national cross country champion Robin Seymour added 25 more world-ranking points to Ireland's total when he finished a fine fourth in the class one Alanya International MTB Cup held in Turkey last Sunday.

Seymour's Ireland team-mates Conor McConvey and Richard Felle were 12th and 15th, and took six and one world ranking points respectively.

• Sunday: Cyclo Cross race, Tymon Park. Underage races at noon, senior riders at 1.30pm.