Taco van der Hoorn of the Dutch Join-S de Rijke squad won yesterday’s opening stage of the An Post Rás on a day that saw 40-year old ex-Irish Olympian Ciarán Power roll back the years and barrel in for a mighty result of his own.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan have been named in Team Sky’s nine-man roster for the Giro d’Italia, which gets under way this Friday in the Netherlands.

The horrific leg injury sustained by Spanish road cyclist Francesco Ventoso has forced the sport’s governing body, the UCI, to suspend the use of a new type of braking mechanism in the pro peloton.

Christopher McGlinchey took the biggest road win of his career yesterday on the opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.

Dave McGowan of the UK-based Champions Systems/VCUK Racing team holds a four second advantage over Ed Laverack (Condor JLT/Mavic) going into today’s final stage of the Suir Valley 3-Day in Clonmel.

Lukas Postlberger was yesterday crowned the winner of An Post Rás following a week that saw him deal with crashes, crosswinds, and even the theft of his bike the night before the final stage.

With five former winners on the start-line and a large overseas contingent competing, this weekend’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan certainly lives up to its name as one of the country’s foremost international stage races.

Kerry Group Rás Mumhan champion Mark Dowling has played down his chances of repeating his heroics of 12 months ago when the race rolls out of Killorglin on Friday.

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

New Zealand have a real star in the making in Patrick Bevin after he scorched to another stunning stage win on stage four of the An Post Rás in Caherciveen yesterday, ensuring he retains the leader’s yellow jersey at the halfway point.

Jan Sokol of the Synergy Baku Cycling Project Team won stage three of the An Post Rás into Charleville, Co. Cork yesterday on a day where two of the strongest domestic Irish riders lit up the race and Kiwi Patrick Bevin retained the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Patrick Bevin is the new race leader of the An Post Rás after he stormed to a solo win on the second stage of the race into Lisdoonvarna, Clare, yesterday.

Mark Dowling claimed the biggest win of his career at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin yesterday when he wrestled the yellow jersey from overnight leader Paddy Clarke by 12 seconds.

Paddy Clarke takes the yellow jersey into today’s final stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan – level on time with Mark Dowling (DID Dunboyne) – following yesterday’s thrilling third stage.

Former international rower turned bike rider, Cathal Moynihan won yesterday’s opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan for the biggest win of his career and the first leaders’ yellow jersey of this year’s race.

Reigning Kerry Group Rás Mumhan champion Damien Shaw believes he has the form to become the first man to win back-to-back titles on the country’s second biggest stage race.

The An Post Chain Reaction outfit are the men to beat in this weekend’s Suir Valley 3-Day in Clonmel, Tipperary.

It was as easy as one, two, three for the An Post Chain Reaction team yesterday as Sam Bennett led teammates Nicholas Vereeken and Shane Archbold over the line in Skerries for a clean sweep of the podium places on the last stage of the An Post Rás.

The Visit Nenagh Classic is shaping up to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event, with 200 riders already pre-entered for a two-day programme of racing.

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.

Following a brutal battle with the elements racing around South Kerry for yesterday’s third stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, Mullingar man Damian Shaw of the Aquablue team regained the leader’s yellow jersey with an awesome show of strength.

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.”

Sean Lacey won his fifth straight Lacey Cup in Tralee yesterday, edging out Michael Fitzgerald (Fermoy CC) and talented junior Dylan O’Brien (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC) after 76 kilometres of hilly racing.

Sean Lacey will be going for his fifth straight Lacey Cup title when he takes to the start-line in Tralee tomorrow for the traditional Munster season opener.

Maybe it is of no significance. But on Monday last, at about half past eight in the evening. I swatted my first horse fly of 2012.

Another fast and furious day on the An Post Rás saw a new rider in the yellow jersey yesterday as Swiss professional Pirmin Lang of the Atlas Personal Jackroo team outsprinted a seven-man lead group to take victory on stage two into Gort.

Though they’re less than a year in existence, the Visit Nenagh-Team DMG cycling club have already made a significant impression on the Irish scene, and this Sunday they’ll host their inaugural club race, a race team founder René Van Dam described as like a “continental-style classic”.

Former An Post/Sean Kelly rider Páidí O’Brien blasted to victory in the opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin last night, putting his deadly finishing kick to good use on the sharp uphill finish to outsprint Denis Bakker (Ruiter Dakkapellen) and local man Dan Clifford (DID Dunboyne).

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

Iverk Produce CarrickWheelers will again host its traditional St Patrick’s Day race today with the 100km event finishing on the top of St John’s Hill on the outskirts of the town.

THE number one ranked team in Ireland from 2011, namely The Edge Racing, will operate under a new name for the forthcoming season after Dan Morrissey/ Speedy Spokes cycles announced yesterday that they would co-sponsor the team.

AFTER their sensational performance in the An Post Rás, where they won the Best County team prize for the Carlow Dan Morrissey outfit, Timmy Barry and The Edge cycling team will be back on home territory this coming weekend when they compete in the Blarney Festival of Cycling.

SEAN LACEY of the Edge Racing cycling team did what many deemed improbable when he claimed a sensational overall win at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin yesterday.

DUTCHMAN Bram Imming has the slimmest of margins going into today’s final stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.

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).

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.

PHILIP LAVERY, one of Ireland’s most exciting young riders, will be in the line-up for next week’s FBD Insurance Rás next after all.

INJURY has forced newly crowned Rás Mumhan champion Tim Barry out of Sunday’s Des Hanlon Memorial Classic in Carlow. The teak tough Cork man, who came out of retirement to claim the title that eluded him for so long, suffered a broken rib in a freak accident at the end of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.

HOLLAND have two of the race favourites at this weekend’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan and while neither figured in yesterday’s opening stage, their rookie compatriot Robert-Jan Mol (West Frisia Combilift), stepped up the steal the limelight.

WITHIN hours of arriving in Ireland Dutch cyclist, Dion Beukeboom, outsprinted the race favourites Brian Kenneally and Paul Griffin to win the first stage of last year’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, and trailed them all the way to the finish three days later when he ended up third overall.

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.