Cav to ride TOI

paddyb

The team rosters for the Tour of Ireland have just been announced, with quadruple Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish named to join the Columbia team.

Sixteen teams will compete in the 900km event, which takes place on the 27 to the 31 August. The race begins at Grand Canal Square at Hanover Quay, Dublin Docklands and finishes in Cork five days later.

Bernhard Eisel, Frantisek Rabon and Marco Pinotti will also join Cavendish for team Columbia's attempt to dominate the podium.

Columbia, Tinkoff and Garmin Slipstream / Chipotle headline the list of teams taking part in the refounded Tour, they're also joined by Karpin Galicia, SouthAustralia.com/AIS, CSF Navigare, Team Type 1 and Rabobank.

Daniel Martin arrives back in Ireland at the head of the Garmin / Chipotle team, joining a star studded line up. Martin will wear the Irish road race champion’s jersey from his national victory in June, the same month he also won the Route Du Sud in France.

The 21-year-old nephew of Stephen Roche is currently in 11th place overall after four stages of the Tour of Portugal, which finishes on 24th August. Martin's high finish in the mountainous stage three saw him gain time on many of his rivals. He’s currently 5min 38sec behind the race leader with seven stages remaining.

The Garmin-Chipotle team also includes former Tour de France yellow jersey holder David Millar and former Paris Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt.

The Irish national team includes top rider Paul Griffin (Tralee) and former multiple Irish champion David McCann (Belfast) who won this year's Tour of Ulster and finished fourth in the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China last month. Miceal Concannon (Kerry) also justified his selection when he won the 100-mile stage two of the Surrey League Five Day race in England this weekend. He beat Tom Southam (Team Halfords) in the final sprint and the duo finished over two minutes ahead of the pack led by British champion Rob Hayles.

Pezula Racing's team line up includes David O'Loughlin (Cong, Co. Mayo) who finished 11th in the men's individual pursuit in the Beijing Olympics last Friday and Ciarán Power (Waterford). Pezula have also signed two new riders from Sweden ahead of the race’s start next Wednesday.
Full team list:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/mark-cavendish-with-columbia-for-the-tour-of-ireland-18095

fish-head

So who's going to the start of the first stage?

blorg

fish-head wrote: »

So who's going to the start of the first stage?

I'm going to be around the M50 bridge/Lambs Cross sort of area on the road to Enniskerry- this is the start proper (e.g. the end of the neutralised section.) I think Ken_Mc is planning for there also.

fish-head

It'd be cool to have a wee get together and cheer them on/shout abuse at them.

zzzzzzzz

fish-head wrote: »

It'd be cool to have a wee get together and cheer them on/shout abuse at them.

If you're talking sticks in wheels then I'm there! And bring your own rocks

lukester

I live round the corner from Grand Canal Dock so will probably wander over for a rocket fuel espresso from that little Italian bakery and a drool at the bikes.

Bicyclegadabout

What's the route of this race does anyone know?

Gavin

Sounds good, I will probably head along with camera to get some photos.

http://www.tourofireland.ie/stages.html

Raam

I've taken the day off to cycle down to Wicklow and watch them go through Laragh.

E@gle.

here is the list of full starters

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_3307.shtml

blorg

Raam wrote: »

I've taken the day off to cycle down to Wicklow and watch them go through Laragh.

I'd try to get them going up a hill, although Mount Leinster is looking like your only option other than the Sugar Loaf (which is a bit of a drag) - is that too far You are taking the day off after all.

Caroline_ie

:pac: Take pics of me in my race car!!!!! I am going to make that ToI Car look so good :rolleyes:

el tel

David McCann for the win!

I do like this jersey

Raam

blorg wrote: »

I'd try to get them going up a hill, although Mount Leinster is looking like your only option other than the Sugar Loaf (which is a bit of a drag) - is that too far You are taking the day off after all.

It's 108km from my house to Mount Leinster heading out the N81.
Anyone else considering cycling down from Dublin to catch the climb?

cantalach

I'm hoping to get to Dingle and head up the Connor Pass on my bike to watch stage 4 go by. The road will presumably be closed for an hour or two before they pass through but they'll surely not stop some guy on a bike right? Then it's back to Cork to catch the end of the final stage 5. If they're all still together coming into the city, that 17 km hilly finishing circuit promises to be very selective.

blorg

Raam wrote: »

It's 108km from my house to Mount Leinster heading out the N81.
Anyone else considering cycling down from Dublin to catch the climb?

Raam- I've taken Wednesday off myself, would be on for heading down to Mount Leinster. According to the schedule it should take us 2 hours from Enniskerry

Raam

blorg wrote: »

Raam- I've taken Wednesday off myself, would be on for heading down to Mount Leinster. According to the schedule it should take us 2 hours from Enniskerry

It's a date.
I was planning on leaving my house at about 630.

The riders are scheduled to arrive there just after 1300.
http://www.tourofireland.ie/stages.html

I figure we could get down there in 4hrs 30mins if we keep an average of 25kph.
Of course, we will have to be there some time before the riders.

The main reason for leaving that early is to avoid all the traffic.

kensutz

I'll be photographing it, should be interesting.

Beached

cantalach wrote: »

I'm hoping to get to Dingle and head up the Connor Pass on my bike to watch stage 4 go by. The road will presumably be closed for an hour or two before they pass through but they'll surely not stop some guy on a bike right? Then it's back to Cork to catch the end of the final stage 5. If they're all still together coming into the city, that 17 km hilly finishing circuit promises to be very selective.

That sounds quiet like my plan for this year also. Last year i headed up the Healy pass to see the race pass by. Went up with about 3 hours to spare expecting road clousure. Nothing of the sort happened. There were still cars arriving up at the top with 30 min to go. And we were left decend down the Kerry side of the pass about 5 min after the last cyclist passes.

The question is will we be fast enough to decend into Dingle for the sprints as the pros are doing a loop of Slea head before coming back into dingle???