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.

DERMOT DIGNAM, Race Organiser of the FBD Insurance Rás which gets under way in Kilcullen on Sunday, feels there could be an Irish winner this year despite the impressive field.