Siobhan Horgan makes her seventh appearance at a World Championships today but it’ll be her first since 2012 and her maiden attempt at the time-trial, having always done the road race before now.

Paidi O’Brien won yesterday’s opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan after an absolutely bruising day that saw many riders lose over 10 minutes.

Sam Bennett will break new ground tomorrow when he competes in the iconic Milan-San Remo. 

Dan Martin ended Ireland’s 21-year wait for a classic win when he claimed the Liege-Bastogne-Liege crown in Belgium yesterday.

In one of the most dramatic finales to the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, Damian Shaw of the Aquablue team held onto the race leader’s yellow jersey, but only by a mere four seconds after second placed Harry Sweering (West Frisia) looked destined to take it.

Kerry Group Rás Mumhan race director Tadhg Moriarty has warned riders with designs on making an impact on this year’s event to be “prepared for one of the hardest stages in the history of the race.”

I’m not usually one for trading secrets with guys I want to beat in races, but here’s a confession.

The Kerry Group Rás Mumhan takes centre stage this weekend with the 500-plus kilometre stage race attracting a massive field of more than 170 riders.

“The yellow jersey has missed the split, the yellow jersey has not responded and is still in the main bunch.”

LITHUANIAN rider Gediminas Bagdonas of the An Post Sean Kelly team holds a one minute and 16 second lead at the halfway point of the Rás after he defended the yellow jersey by winning the fourth stage into Castletownbere in miserable conditions yesterday.

LAST YEAR’S Kerry Group Rás Mumhan winner Timmy Barry has ruled out any chance of reclaiming the title and insists a stage win is about as much as he can aspire to, given the quality of the start-list for the race which begins today in Killorglin (4pm).

PAUL GRIFFIN has come mightily close to landing the overall title at Rás Mumhan on several occasions but the teak-tough Tralee native reckons this year might well be his last chance at the yellow jersey.

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.

PAUL GRIFFIN has a very good record in the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan but goes to the line for Friday’s start as an unknown quantity.

TWO of Ireland’s leading hopes for the FBD Insurance Rás, Brian Kenneally and Paul Griffin, have been out of sorts recently but expect to go to the line in Kilcullen for Sunday’s opening stage to Wexford town with all guns blazing.

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.

CIARAN POWER (Pezula) would like to take his place among the legends of Irish cycling next week by winning the FBD Insurance Rás for the third time.

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.

CIARÁN POWER (Pezula Racing) may have been dumped on the scrapheap when the Sports Council were handing out their grants to elite sports people, but he was at the top of the pile yesterday evening when he won the opening stage of the Pauline Sugrue Auctioneers Rás Mumhan into Killorglin.

THIS is Olympic year so we can expect big things from Ciarán Power — the most experienced Irish professional in the peloton — according to Martin O’Loughlin, who is former manager of the Olympic cycling team.

TRALEE’S Denis Dunworth has been named in the An Post Sean Kelly Development squad for the traditional Pauline Sugrue/Ras Mumhan 4-Day International Cycle Race over the Easter weekend.

PHILIP DEIGNAN’S performances to date in the Tour of Germany would indicate he has hit form at precisely the right time in advance of the Tour of Ireland professional cycle race which gets underway with an exciting stage from Kilkenny to Cork tomorrow week.

BRIAN KENNEALLY (Myhome.ie/BD BC) was rewarded for his courage with a sensational victory after riding clear of the breakaway group a mile from the finish of yesterday’s 91 mile second stage of the FBD Insurance RÁS from Templemore to Loughrea.

CHRIS NEWTON, who won the overall title in 2003 and 2005, is favourite to claim a third victory in the FBD Insurance Rás which starts in Naas tomorrow morning.

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.

SIOBHÁN DERVAN will be the only woman in the line-up when Rás Mumhan gets under way with a prologue time trial in Killorglin this evening.

EUGENE MORIARTY would dearly love to win the race dedicated to his grandfather, legendary track cyclist Gene Moriarty, in his native Listowel on Sunday but feels that, at this point, it may be a bridge too far.

CHRIS NEWTON goes to the start line in Tallaght tomorrow defending his FBD Insurance Rás title.

ANDY ROCHE, winner of the title in 1997, has been forced to pull out of next week’s FBD Insurance RÁS following a disastrous crash 500m from the finish of Sunday’s Rutland GP.

Brendan Mooney

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.

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.

WHEN Philip Cassidy sprang one of cycling’s shocks of the century by coming back after 16 years to win the FBD Milk Rás for a second time in 1999, his son Mark was just a spectator with a passing interest.

Brendan Mooney

TIMMY BARRY got the perfect boost in advance of the FBD Milk Rás when he reclaimed the Tour of Ulster over the bank holiday weekend – a title he won in magnificent style two years ago.