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.

British rider Chris Newtown swept to his second FBD Insurance Rás title in two years, after finishing comfortably in the bunch at the end of today's eighth and final stage criterium in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

TWO more former winners have been added to the list of entries for the FBD Insurance RÁS, which gets underway in Dublin on May 22.