Tour of Ireland 2008

Joining top Tour teams Garmin-Chipotle and Team Columbia at the 2008 Tour of Ireland are Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk, Karpin Galicia, Tinkoff Credit Systems, MTN Energade, Team Type 1, CSF Group Navigare, SouthAustralia.com/AIS and Joker-Bianchi.

The 900km Tour of Ireland cycle race starts from Grand Canal Square in the Dockland’s area of Dublin on Wednesday 27th August when 112 riders head out on a route across 12 counties toward the final destination of the City of Cork.

Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk
Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk sits at the top of the table on the British Cycling national team rankings with a massive points lead this year. Team captain Dean Downing’s early season form saw him winning the BC Premier Calendar Bike-Line Two-Day stage race and stage two of the FBD Insurance Rás when it finished in Claremorris. Chris Newton followed Downing into the Rás record books when he won the following day’s stage three into Lisdoonvarna. Newton is a former double winner of the Rás (2003 & 2005) and solid member of the British track team with medals from the Olympic Games and the World Championships. Downing and Newton are currently on GB team duty in the Sachsen International Tour of Saxony with team mates Ben Greenwood and Kristian House. Downing won the 242km stage two which finished in Frohburg on Thursday 24th July. Graham Briggs has been the surprise package of the team this year, showing he can sprint to victory from a big bunch when he won two rounds of the British Cycling criterium series. Briggs could be in contention for the An Post sprinter’s jersey if he can stay under the radar from riders like quadruple Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia), Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30) and Mauro Richeze (CSF Group – Navigare) The Rapha Condor Recycling team line up for the Tour of Ireland is expected to be revealed shortly.

Karpin Galicia
The Karpin Galicia team was launched in 2007 after a number of top Spanish teams were disbanded. The team races on the UCI European Tour but also received a wild card to ride the Vuelta a España last year. The Spanish team is named after the autonomous community region of Galicia where the team was founded. Alberto Fernandez Sainz is the experienced tour man of the Spanish team travelling to Ireland. The 26-year-old professional won the Bizkaiko Bira stage race in Spain last year and made it to the podium twice in the Vuelta a Zamora. Alejandro Paleo has also tasted stage race success as a previous winner of the Volta á Coruña. The team’s key wins this year include overall victories in the Presidential Tour of Turkey and Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. The team’s Director Sportif is former Vuelta a España winner Álvaro Pino.

Tinkoff Credit Systems
Tinkoff Credit Systems (Russia), MTN Energade (South Africa) and Team Type 1 (USA) are the latest of the teams to be announced for the Tour of Ireland professional cycle race sponsored by Fáilte Ireland which starts at Grand Canal Square in Dublin's Docklands on 27th August.

Tinkoff Credit Systems are sending a balanced team of experienced professionals and young talent and are intent on challenging for overall victory in the five day race. Italian Alberto Loddo heads to Ireland with stage victories in the Tours of Qatar, Langkawi and Settimana Ciclista Lombardia under his belt this year.

Columbian Walter Pedraza has been very successful on the South American continent before moving onto the European circuit this year. Pedraza made it onto the podium in Columbia, Chile and Venezuela last year and has shown his wide ranging physical abilities by winning the prologue of the Classica Independencia Ciudad de Flandes and finishing second on the mountainous Genting Highlands stage of the Tour of Langkawi. Sergey Klimov is a vastly experienced track and road professional. He is a former junior track cycling world champion and multiple Track World Cup medalist. He rode with the team in the Giro d’Italia this year and took the bronze medal in the Russian national road race championships. The professional continental team has big plans for next year and will want to continue their successful run this season that includes two stage victories in the Giro d’Italia.

MTN Energade
The MTN Energade team heads to Ireland for the first time although Neil MacDonald has previously ridden in the FBD Rás and will know what to expect. The South African team has been hugely successful over recent years with major victories in the Tour of Morocco and Giro del Capo. David George will take up the captaincy of the team when the race leaves Dublin having just returned from the Beijing Olympics riding for South Africa. George has had a long and successful cycling career and is a five time South African time trial champion. He won the Tour of Langkawi in 2006 and is a triple winner of the Giro del Capo in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Waylon Woolcock is the team climber and 2007 winner of the Tour of Egypt and the Jock Cycle Classic. Woolcock's endurance ability may help him find the power needed to launch a stage winning move on the steep climbs on the city circuit on the last tough stage into Cork. 19-year-old Bradley Potgieter looks like he will have a bright future in cycling following a successful 2007 season where he won the South Africa junior road race and time trial titles. Mountain biker Kevin Evans will be switching his talents to road racing following his recent appearance in the World MTB Marathon Championships where he finished 14th. The current South African mountain bike champion will enjoy the tough hilly stages in the counties of Kerry, Galway and Mayo.

Team Type 1
The newly formed Team Type 1 squad from America has a number of notable riders travelling across to Ireland. Glen Chadwick is a former New Zealand time trial champion who powered his way to two stage victories in the Tour de Beauce in Canada last year. Fabio Calabria is one for the four squad riders with Type 1 Diabetes. The 21-year-old is a at home on the slopes and won the mountains competition in the Tour de Bortoli last year, finishing third overall. Ukrainian Valeriy Kobzarenko will hope to improve on his 8th place in Ireland last year when he rode with the Navigators team. He won the prestigious Tour de Beauce in 2006 and is a former winner of the Ukrainian road race championships. Emile Abraham is the team sprinter who first took the headlines when he won the bronze medal in the ‘B’ World Championships road race in 2003. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Abraham has won the national road race championships on nine occasions but will face tougher competition in Ireland with quadruple Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish already named in the Team Columbia roster. There are two notable opportunities for the sprinters to fill the podium on stages one from Dublin to Waterford and stage two from Thurles to Loughrea.

CSF Group Navigare
CSF Group Navigare return to race in the 900km Tour of Ireland (27th to 31st August) sponsored by Fáilte Ireland. The Italian team is based on the Ceramiche Panaria outfit which participated in the inaugural race last year and this year’s entry boasts a young and talented team. Matteo Priamo has already tasted success this year when he won three stages in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey and more recently stage six of the Giro d’Italia. Argentinean Ruben Bongiorno is a devilish sprinter and will be seen battling it out with triple Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) and Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Chipotle) in the final 200m dash for the line in Ireland. Bongiorno has a good record in stage races including five stage victories and five second places in the Tour of Langkawi. 22-year-old Mauro Richeze is another top sprinter expected to be in contention for the An Post sponsored competition for sprinters. Richeze also rode in the Langkawi tour this year where he won the 9th stage. Paride Grillo has been a professional for four years and has won stages in the Volta a Portugal, Post Danmark Rundt and the Brixia Tour. Grillo made it on to the podium 27 times in his first three years of racing and his experience of riding the Giro d'Italia, Tour Down Under and the Tirreno Adriatico stage races will be invaluable to the team.

SouthAustralia.com/AIS
SouthAustralia.com/AIS has listed a strong team for the event which starts in Dublin on 27th August. The Australian team has already demonstrated its race winning talent this season. The young team dominated the Tour of Japan in May where Simon Clarke, Zakkari Dempster and Wesley Sulzberger each won stages and helped Cameron Meyer to win the overall classification. Meyer’s brother Travis will represent the family in Ireland and has already shown that he is just as capable of winning events. The 19-year-old from Perth won the Tours of Berlin and New Zealand this year and is a former junior triple world track cycling champion.

Joker-Bianchi
Joker-Bianchi will fly in from Norway hoping to repeat their 2007 success when Edvald Boasson-Hagen won stage four into Galway as part of Team Maxbo-Bianchi. Boasson Hagen was snapped up by Team Columbia this year but Joker-Bianchi are very excited about their new young prospects Ole Haavardsholm (3rd in the Junior European Road Championships 2008) and Ingar Stokstad (podium positions in the Junior Road World Cup). Alexander Kristoff, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Joachim Bohler and Frederik Willman will know what to expect from last year but the three new team members will only have heard stories about the tough climb of St Patrick’s Hill in Cork. Nordhaug finished third in the Norwegian road race championships at the end of last month. Bohler and Willman have both won stages in UCI ranked stage races this year. Kristoff has finished on the podium eight times this year in the Tours of Normandy and Bretagne and the Porec Trophy in Croatia.

Stages
Stage 1: Dublin to Waterford, 192km - Wednesday 27th August
Stage 2: Thurles to Loughrea, 158km – Thursday 28th August
Stage 3: Ballinrobe – Galway, 201km – Friday 29th August
Stage 4: Limerick to Dingle, 186km – Saturday 30th August
Stage 5: Killarney to Cork, 155km - Sunday 31st August

Website - www.tourofireland.ie