Irish looks for medals in The Netherlands

CYCLING: National under-23 champion Paidi O'Brien, Ryan Connor and Daniel Martin will lead the Ireland charge in the European road race championships which are taking place in Limburg, The Netherlands.

The will be joined by O'Brien's Sean Kelly Racing Team companions, Eoin Concannon, Andrew McQuaid, Mark Cassidy and Ciaran Kelly and have a good chance of being in the final shake-up. The 31.5 kilometre time trial will take place today, while the 188.7 kilometre road race will be held on Sunday. Isaac Spears and Diarmuid Cronin will represent Ireland in the 144 kilometre junior road race tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the overnight leader Adam Bonsar held on at the top of the general classification of the M. Donnelly Junior Tour of Ireland yesterday. The advantage gained by a six-man breakaway during the stage from Castlebar to Mulrany via Achill Sound threatened the yellow jersey of the UK rider, but once the lead approached five minutes he started to drive the pursuit behind.

The stage win went to Tom Diggle (North West), ahead of Geert Van Der Sanden (Team BMV Veldhoven) and Patrick Ruckert (Team BMV Veldhoven). Nineteen seconds later Simon Holt (West Midlands) led in what was left of the main bunch and with Bonsar in this group, he held onto yellow.

Luke Rowe (Dave Rayner Team) is next best overall, 36 seconds back, while Ben King (Hot Tubes USA) and Holt are a further second back in third and fourth. Fergus Keogh (Stena Line Ireland) was best of the home riders, taking ninth on the stage. Ulster's Tomas Martin is 11th overall. The race continues today with a 67.2 mile race starting and finishing in Ballina.

In other news, Robin Seymour will aim to further improve his remarkable winning streak in the National MTB cross country championships when he goes for what would be his 13th consecutive gold medal this Sunday.

Seymour was fifth in the third round of the BCF Premier Series in Drumjanrig, Scotland, last Saturday, well clear of Roger Aiken (25th) and Lewis Ferguson (32nd), who will be among his main rivals for the Irish championships. Seymour then finished second in the Marathon Premier Series, which took place at the same venue the following day. His Worc team-mate Tarja Owens will also be aiming to extend her own record, the past Olympian going for what would be her 12th consecutive title. The championship will take place in Kilruddery Estate near Bray, Co Wicklow.

FIXTURES

Saturday: Sundrive Track Racing - Interprovincial Youth Track league. For details contact Will Byrne at 086 8047839. Ballivor Grand Prix, starts 7 pm.

Sunday: Irish National MTB XC championships, Kilruddery Estate, Bray. Sports and underage races at noon, all other categories at 1.30. Laois GP, starts 1 pm. Youth races added to programme, starting at 11 am.

Monday: Mark Mullen Memorial league, Donore village. Starts 7.30 am.