CYCLING NEWS ROUND-UP:THE IRISH-REGISTERED squad of An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Seán Kelly remains an excellent second overall in the teams ranking heading into the final two stages of the Tour of Britain.
They are nine minutes 27 seconds behind the leaders Agritubel, and ahead of far bigger squads such as Garmin Chipotle, Columbia and CSC Saxo Bank.
Irish road race champion Dan Martin (Garmin Chipotle) was 20th on yesterday's 164.7km stage to Dalby Forest, finishing in the main bunch 11 seconds behind the solo winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia). He is an excellent seventh overall, 14 seconds behind leader Geoffroy Lequatre (Agritubel).
Belgium's Benny De Schrooder of the An Post team was 15th on the stage and is sixth overall, one place behind his British team-mate Dan Fleeman.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Roche dropped three places to a nevertheless impressive 23rd overall in the Tour of Spain yesterday. Roche missed a split in the bunch at a crucial point and was stranded with race contender Alejandro Valverde plus several others.
The other classification favourites combined to put time into Valverde, so that group finished three minutes 23 seconds back.
In other news, the Irish squad had an excellent showing in the track events at the Paralympic Games, setting new Irish records in seven out of nine events and racking up a number of impressive placings.
Michael Delaney and David Peelo yesterday finished in fifth place in the Tandem Sprint Competition, adding to the fifth placings achieved by Catherine Walsh and Joanna Hickey in the 3km individual pursuit and LC1 rider Cathal Miller in the 4km pursuit race.
Each of these performances resulted in Irish records, with Miller's eight-second improvement the most impressive.
CP4 rider Enda Smyth was seventh in the individual pursuit, while Miller and tandem pairing Walsh and Hickey also clocked up the same placings in the one kilometre time trial. More national records were broken en route to these results, as was the case when Peelo and Delaney placed 10th in the one kilometre tandem time trial.
Finally, the Sneem Hotel Rás na mBan gets under way today with a 35-mile road race crossing Moll's Gap. The three-day international event is the highlight of the women's calendar in Ireland and sees an impressive line-up taking part.
There are a number of strong foreign teams as well as a good Irish entry. Louise Moriarty (UCD/Swift Racing) leads the home challenge, while last year's runner-up, Desiree Schuler, has travelled from Germany intent on going one better. The race continues tomorrow with a 50-mile circuit race and two-mile time trial. It concludes on Sunday.
FIXTURES
Friday-Sunday: Sneem Hotel Rás na mBan, Kerry.
Saturday: Ulster XC League, Dunmore Mountain. Contact Trevor for more details at 07714382158. Munster Hill Climb championships, Newcastle West. Starts 6.30.
