Matt Brammeier yesterday became the first Irish rider to win three national road race titles in-a-row when he soloed clear of a three man breakaway in the final 2km to retain his shamrock jersey of Irish champion in Clonmel.

Matthew Brammeier is aiming to become the first man ever to win three Irish National senior road-race titles in-a-row tomorrow when he heads a star-studded field in Clonmel for the 168-kilometre one-day event.

A victory by Danish sprinter Mark Pedersen of the Blue Water Cycling team on stage four of the An Post Rás was overshadowed by an epic ride by An Post Sean Kelly rider Ronan McLaughlin yesterday.

On a day that, up until the final kilometres, looked earmarked for a mass bunch sprint into Kilkenny yesterday, Polish rider Marcin Bialablocki led a late four-man escape group across the line on Patrick Street to take stage victory and become the first overall leader of the 2012 An Post Rás.

When the An Post Rás pulls out of Dunboyne tomorrow for the first stage to Kilkenny, there will be an air of sadness about the race cavalcade.

MATT BRAMMEIER (HTC Highroad) completed a remarkable weekend when he reclaimed the elite road race championship title yesterday while also taking the national time-trial crown on Friday night at Emyvale, Monaghan.

An Post Sean Kelly team manager Kurt Bogaerts today named his team for the 59th edition of the Rás, which starts in Dunboyne this Sunday.

DEFENDING champion Nicolas Roche, his cousin Daniel Martin who won the title a couple of years ago, three-time winner David O’Loughlin and another former winner, David McCann will line up for the national road race championships in Sligo tomorrow.

THIS year’s Tour of Ireland international cycle race has been cancelled due to “financial difficulties” but the organisers are already making plans for its return in 2011.

AFTER leading the race through his home town of Cong, David O’Loughlin (An Post/Sean Kelly), supplied the perfect finishing touch to the third stage of the FBD Insurance Rás when he outsprinted defending champion, Simon Richardson (Sigma Sport Specialised).

DAN CRAVEN (Rapha Condor Sharp) started cycling in a tiny town in an outback of Namibia before joining a cycling club when he went to University near Cape Town and yesterday he conducted his own master class when he won the opening stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Dundalk.

CHRIS NEWTON, one of Britain’s most decorated cyclists, has a treasure chest of Olympic and world championship medals but would still love to add his name to the list of FBD Insurance Rás legends who have won the title three times or more.

Philip Lavery, one of Ireland’s most exciting young riders, will be in the line-up for this weekend’s FBD Insurance Rás after all.

Russell Downing of the CandiTV – Marshall’s Pasta team sprinted to victory in the opening stage of this year’s Tour of Ireland in Waterford today.

The man killed in a single-vehicle crash in Ardee, Co Louth last night has been identified as 31-year-old Paul Healion, a leading cyclist who had been due to compete in this week's Tour of Ireland as a member of the national team.

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.

DAVID O’LOUGHLIN (An Post/Sean Kelly) attempts to win the Elite road race championship for a fourth time at Dunboyne on Sunday.

DUTCH rider, Dion Beukeboom (Midi Center Ruiter Wielerteam), claimed stage victory in an exciting three-man sprint up the hill in Killorglin but all attention was focused on Paul Griffin (Team Earl of Desmond) and Brian Kenneally (Engraveit.ie/Cycleways/BDBC), who filled the minor placings as the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan got underway yesterday.

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.