Scanlon free to push for success Cycling

Cycling: Following a solid 16th place in the Paris-Troyes event last Sunday, Mark Scanlon will continue to build form in two more French races this weekend. The Sligoman rides the 1.2-ranked Classic Loire Atlantique today and the similarly-graded Cholet-Pays de Loire on Sunday.

Scanlon tends to get stronger as the season progresses and with previous Ag2R Prévoyance leaders Jaan Kirsipuu and Laurent Brochard with other teams this year, the 24-year-old has greater freedom to add to his own results this season.

Fellow professionals Ciarán Power and David O'Loughlin will have a good block of racing in Europe before returning to the US with their New York-based Navigators team later this spring. Power competes in the GP Rudy Dhaenens on Sunday and then joins the Irish road-race champion on the team for the Settimana Ciclista Internazionale in Italy, which begins on Tuesday.

After that the two riders will line out in the Route Adelie de Vitre, the GP de la Ville de Rennes, Gent-Wevelgem and the Ronde Van Drenthe in early April. From there their paths diverge, with Power riding the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen in Belgium on April 13th and the GP de Denain in France one day later, while O'Loughlin will fly to the US and compete with Lance Armstrong and Paris-Nice victor Bobby Julich in the Tour de Georgia later in the month.

Irish amateur Tim Cassidy continues to go well in France, taking 12th place against the professionals in the 1.2-ranked Bordeaux-Saintes race last weekend. He will join Scanlon in the Classic Loire Atlantique today and La Roue Tourangelle in two days' time.

Back home, the 2005 Classic League gets under way with the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow on Sunday. Among the favourites for the mountainous race is the 2004 winner Rory Wyley, Matthew Ward, Vincent Gleeson, Paul Griffin, Greg Swinand, Shane Baker and Conor Murphy.

The Classic League will this year comprise six events, with prizes and a leader's jersey awarded after each round, plus a fund of €1,000 for the final overall classification. The second race will be the Shay Elliot Memorial in Bray on April 24th.

FIXTURES: Saturday: Christy McManus Memorial, Roundwood. Starts 11.0. Cicli Sport Grand Prix, Moneymore. Starts 12.0. Mooney Trophy, Collooney, Co Sligo. Starts 3.0. Sunday: Des Hanlon Memorial (Classic League 1), Carlow. Starts 11.30. Traders Cup, Dundalk. Markievicz Cup, Collooney, Co Sligo. Starts 2.0. Armagh-Downpatrick St Patrick's Classic, Armagh. Starts 1pm. Bangor Youth Spring League 4, Dundonald Ice Bowl, starts 12.0. Munster DH League 1, Cheek Point, Waterford, starts 12.0.