Matt Brammeier and Philip Lavery forced to miss Rás because of illness

National road race champion

Matt Brammeier

and the rider who finished second to him in last year’s championships,

Philip Lavery

, have both been forced to miss out on this year’s

An Post

Rás, with illness costing them their place on the

Azerbaijan

Synergy Baku team in the race.

The squad will instead be led by a third Irish rider, last year’s Rás runner-up Connor McConvey. He has had a quiet start to the season but, according to team manager David McQuaid things are starting to fall into place and should enable him to challenge.

“Connor has got himself sorted and is punching out some pretty impressive numbers in training,” he stated. He added that the team would also comprise two German riders, namely Christoph Schweizer and Daniel Klemme, plus the Austrian duo Markus Eibegger and Jan Sokol.

“Eibegger had bad luck in Azerbaijan, which was his season goal, puncturing at a crucial moment and then losing out when no neutral service was near him.

"He was due a rest and some time with the family, but credit to him, he is helping the team out by going to Ireland for a week. I fully believe he is capable of a stage win if you look at this year's route."

Bunch sprints
Schweizer, Klemme and Sokol are fast finishers and will look to do well in bunch sprints.

The team will be one of 16 travelling from abroad for the race, which begins this Sunday; 15 of those are registered overseas, while the An Post Chainreaction Seán Kelly squad is registered in Ireland but based in Belgium.

It will include Irish riders Jack Wilson and Seán Downey, plus the Irish-born Robert Jon McCarthy, who declared for Australia after moving there several years ago.

The field will also feature national teams from Great Britain, Canada and New Zealand, as well as continental teams from Britain, Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

Seventeen Irish county teams will also take part in what is the country’s top-ranked event.

The 2014 An Post Rás will take an anticlockwise route around Ireland, beginning at Dunboyne on Sunday, May 18th and featuring stage-end finishes in Roscommon, Lisdoonvarna, Charleville, Cahirciveen, Clonakilty, Carrick on Suir, Baltinglass and Skerries.

While it has plenty of flat, fast roads, there is also plenty for the climbers.