THE former stage winner may have ridden the race 17 times and an 18th appearance is in his plans for this year but when Stephen O’Sullivan was handed the title of Route Director for this year’s An Post Rás by his father-in-law, Dermot Dignam, avoided soft options and came up with one of the most difficult routes in the history of the event.

The An Post Sean Kelly cycling team has today announced its team for this years FBD Insurance Rás which starts this Sunday in Dunboyne.

INJURY has forced newly crowned Rás Mumhan champion Tim Barry out of Sunday’s Des Hanlon Memorial Classic in Carlow. The teak tough Cork man, who came out of retirement to claim the title that eluded him for so long, suffered a broken rib in a freak accident at the end of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.

The An Post Sean Kelly Team is back on home soil for the first time this year ahead of this weekend’s FBD Rás, which gets underway in Kilcullen, Co. Wicklow on Sunday.