Irish riders ready to roll

CYCLING: Irish international riders are making their final preparations before the start of the road-racing season. David McCann and Paul Griffin get things under way when they line out in the five-day Tour of Siam on Sunday. Riding with the Giant Asia team, they will use the event as a tune-up before the Tour de Langkawi starts on January 28th.

Ciarán Power and Irish road race champion David O'Loughlin are in Australia finalising their preparations for the season. The Navigators Insurance riders will start the five-day Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under on Tuesday. The 2.HC race is expected to attract some of the world's biggest pro teams, as will the similarly-ranked Langkawi tour.

Five other riders have been confirmed as joining McCann and Griffin on the team for the latter event. Stephen Gallagher, Paul Healion, Paídi O'Brien, Seán Lacey and Roger Aiken will make their Malaysian debuts, with Cian Lynch to act as team manager.

Lynch says he is hoping for a strong ride from the Team Ireland squad. "Being the highest categorised stage race outside of Europe, the invitation to compete at the Tour of Langkawi is a rare opportunity for our team to mix it up with ProTour teams such as Discovery Channel, Credit Agricole and Liberty Seguros.

"Riding the Tour of Siam will set David McCann and Paul Griffin up well for Langkawi. They are very experienced internationally, and will be hoping to infiltrate the podium on the mountain stages."

The other riders on the team are likely to play a support role for McCann and Griffin, according to Lynch. However, they will seize any opportunity which arises along the way to land high stage placings.

Meanwhile, Mark Scanlon and Philip Deignan are at a training camp in L'Isle sur le Sorgue with their Ag2R Prevoyance team-mates, continuing their own pre-season training. The duo are likely to begin racing in early February, as will new Cofidis pro Nicolas Roche.

At home, the final round of the Leinster League last weekend saw Shane Baker make the most of his handicap, holding off multiple-Irish champion Robin Seymour and winning his first cyclo-cross race. Robert Lamont was third. Seymour finished well clear of Lamont and his own WORC team-mate Dave Gill in the final league standings.

The promoting Usher Irish Road Club raised €1,500 for the Tsunami Disaster Appeal. Proceeds from Sunday's final round of the Ulster league will also go to the fund.

FIXTURES: Ulster cyclo-cross league round five, Downey's Farm, near Dromore. Underage race starts at noon, main event at 1 p.m.

LEINSTER LEAGUE (round four, Corkagh Park): 1, S Baker (Usher Irish Road Club) 7 laps in 1 hour 10 seconds; 2, R Seymour (Team WORC) at 17 secs; 3, R Lamont (XMTB) at 2 mins 11 secs; 4, D Gill (Team WORC) at 2 mins 30 secs; 5, N Dellhaye (IMBRC) at 3 mins; 6, K Jensen (Sorrento CC) at 5 mins 20 secs; 7, J McCluskey (Team WORC) at 5 mins 31 secs; 8, M Steed (Kilcullen) at 5 mins 34 secs. Underage (2 laps): 1, I Galloway (Team WORC); 2, D Cronin (Usher Irish Road Club); 3, S Dowling (IMBRC). Final league standings: 1, R Seymour, 58 points; 2, R Lamont, 46; 3, D Gill, 34; 4, K Jensen, 27; 5, O Jeffries (Rock/MASI) 25; 6, S O'Sullivan (Bray Wheelers) 24; 7, J McCluskey, 21; 8, B Donnelly (Kilcullen) 21 Underage: 1, I Galloway, 42 points; 2, D Cronan, 23; 3, D Wolfe (Sorrento CC) 16; 4, G Wrigley (Bray Wheelers) 14; 5, C Farrell (Kilcullen) 14; 6, C Enright (Usher IRC) 12.