NICOLAS ROCHE (Ag2r) will wear the Irish road race champion’s jersey to the start of the Tour de France in Monaco next weekend although he was still awaiting confirmation from his team last night following his exciting victory in the Elite Road Race championship at Dunboyne yesterday.

BRIAN KENNEALLY goes to the line for today’s opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin with his sights firmly set on a third victory in the race.

PAUL GRIFFIN wants to fulfil one of his lifetime ambitions by winning the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan at the weekend but he is fully aware of the tough task ahead of him.

JUST a week after winning the coveted Route du Sud in the Pyrenees, Daniel Martin returned to Ireland to claim the shamrock jersey of the national champion with another power-packed display on the Ballinacurra circuit, near Midleton, yesterday.

PAUL HEALION (South Dublin) won the senior men’s national time trial title in the absence of the professional riders at Newcastlewest last night.

CIARAN POWER’S performances in the Kerry Mountains during Rás Mumhan over the Easter Weekend could strengthen his claim to a place on the Irish team for the Olympic road race.

CIARAN POWER (Pezula Racing) put his hallmark on a spectacular weekend when he won the final stage of the Pauline Sugrue Auctioneers Rás Mumhan, to copperfasten his overall victory in blustery conditions at Killorglin yesterday.

NORWEGIAN Thor Hushovd edged a tight finish to win the fourth stage of the Tour de France on the 193km route between Villers-Cotterets and Joigny.

DAVID O’LOUGHLIN (Navigators Insurance) dug deep into his vast reserves of experience and knowledge to win the national road race championship in spectacular, if not dramatic, fashion in Waterford yesterday where he outsprinted a six-man leading group for his third title.

NICOLAS ROCHE bids to succeed in one of the few races his famous father, Stephen, failed to win when he lines up for the national road race championship in Waterford on Sunday.

BRIAN KENNEALLY (MyHome.ie/BDBC) won Rás Mumhan in a pulsating finish in Killorglin yesterday.

RAYMOND CLARKE (Dan Morrissey/Carrick Wheelers) will wear the race leader’s yellow jersey when Rás Mumhan leaves Killorglin today on the first of the three road stages.

PAUL HEALION (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) heads into today's final stage of the Credit Union Ras Mumhan in Killorglin almost certain of victory.

THE Martin Donnelly/Sean Kelly professional cycling team will make its Irish debut in this weekend’s five stage Credit Union Rás Mumhan in Co. Kerry.

JULIAN WINN, a former winner of the FBD Insurance Rás, will have a powerful new ally when he bids for a second title on Sunday week, with Yanto Barker an exciting addition to the Wales Stena team.

JOHN DEMPSEY (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers) pounced six miles from the finish to claim the overall title as the Killorglin Credit Union Rás Mumhan drew to an exciting close yesterday after four days and 270 gruelling miles around the roads and mountains of Kerry.

PAUL GRIFFIN (Earl of Desmond) will don the race leader’s yellow jersey with a miniscule time advantage of .18 of a second over fellow Kerry cyclist Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways.com) when Killorglin Credit Union Rás Mumhan enters the final day that will decide the overall title over three laps of the 15-mile Beaufort circuit followed by four laps of the 13-mile Donal McKenna Circuit.

DAVID McCANN will begin his build-up to a defence of his FBD Insurance RÁS title in Kerry over the Easter weekend, when he lines up as favourite to win the Rás Mumhan, the perfect prelude to Irish cycling’s showpiece.