BRIAN KENNEALLY has recovered from his third win in the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, but has not yet decided if he will contest the Shay Elliott Memorial in Bray next Sunday when he could opt for the big race down south, the Bill Hyland Memorial in Clonmel.

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.

CIARAN POWER (Dan Morrissey) claimed his second stage victory and the race leadership changed hands twice in a matter of hours as the 1996 winner, Tommy Evans (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) took custody of the yellow jersey in the morning team time trial only to pass it on to Kristian House (Recycling.co.uk), the form man going into the race, when the FBD Insurance Rás arrived in Westport last evening.

CIARÁN POWER (Dan Morrissey) claimed stage victory in a sprint with Lukasz Modzelewski (Poland Legia Bazylisek) in a spectacular finish to stage four of the FBD Insurance RAS in Listowel last evening.

DEFENDING champion, Chris Newton (Recycling.co.uk), pipped former winner, Tommy Evans (IRC Usher Insulations) in the first stage of this year’s FBD Insurance Rás from Tallaght to Enniscorthy yesterday.

THE withdrawal of Mark Scanlon from the FBD Insurance Rás due to illness came as a huge disappointment to debutant Irish rider Bryan Keane.

Lack of decisive climbs on stage three of the Tour of Britain yesterday ruled out the possibility of any change to the top of the leaderboard.

Philip Deignan, one of Ireland's young cycling talents, moved up to 20th overall in the Tour of Britain this evening, after a bunch finish in the 379.3km stage two ride from Leeds to Sheffield.

DAVID McCANN finally earned himself a place among Irish cycling's legends by claiming victory in this year's FBD Milk Ras, fulfilling an ambition he harboured since he was runner-up to Tommy Evans eight years ago.

Double Olympian David McCann all but sealed victory in the 2004 FBD Milk Rás this afternoon as the Belfast amateur’s solo breakaway at 107km saw him claim the seventh and penultimate stage, 149km from Carrick-on-Suir to Tullow.

DAVID O’LOUGHLIN and David McCann are hitting top form but Irish team manager Frank Campbell yesterday said this year’s FBD Milk Rás will be the toughest yet for Irish riders.

Tommy Evans, following a good 1 1/2 mile time trial on the third stage of the Tour of Ulster in Omagh, is the overnight leader as the cyclists head to Emyvale for the final stage today.

DAVID O’LOUGHLIN gave his form another boost in advance of the FBD Milk Rás when he won the coveted Murphy & Gunn Shay Elliott race in Bray on Sunday.

IRELAND will have two riders in next year’s Olympic Road Race in Athens thanks to some superb performances by the Irish team at the world B cycling championships in Aigle yesterday, with David McCann duplicating Ciaran Power’s performance of four years ago by winning the bronze medal.

IRISH team manager Martin O’Loughlin will be hoping that his charges can claim two places in next year’s Olympic Games at the World B cycling championships in Aigle, Switzerland, on Sunday.

MARK SCANLON returned to his native town to parade his immense cycling talent for the first time since he won the world junior title.

CIARAN POWER arrived back in Ireland in ample time to challenge Mark Scanlon for the national cycling championship title in Sligo tomorrow when the defending champion will have the advantage of hometown support and local knowledge in his defence of the title.

CHRIS NEWTON (Great Britain), runner-up to Ciaran Power 12 months earlier, may not have been in race-winning form coming into this year’s FBD Milk Rás, but the world points champion could not hide his excitement as he left Dublin with the overall title last evening after a dramatic week.

CHRIS NEWTON (Great Britain), the world points champion, is virtually assured of overall victory going into the penultimate stage of the FBD Milk Rás.

Tommy Evans has lost the yellow jersey after stage five of the FBD Milk Ras from Letterkenny to Buncrana.

Ireland's Tommy Evans remains the leader of the FBD Milk Ras ahead of today's 145km fifth stage from Letterkenny to Buncrana.

Ireland's Tommy Evans holds the lead at the FBD Milk Rás.

The riders in the FBD Milk Ras are facing a 173km fourth-stage trip from Ballina to Letterkenny today.

CIARAN POWER may have gone into this year’s FBD Milk Rás as the defending champion but he achieved his main goal for this year yesterday by landing a stage win in a ferocious sprint into Ballina to end an eventful 93-mile third stage from Clifden.

Ireland's Ciaran Power has won the third stage of the FBD Milk Rás from Clifden to Ballina.

The riders in this year's FBD Milk Ras are due to begin their third stage - a 173km stretch from Clifden to Ballina - later today.

TOMMY EVANS, riding for the Irish Sports Council team, got the FBD Milk Rás off to a flying start yesterday when he won a two man sprint for stage victory with the young Dane, Ari Hojgaard, into Roscrea and claimed the first yellow jersey of this year’s showpiece.

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.

THE enormity of the task confronting Ireland’s Ciaran Power in his bid to become only the third man in history to retain the FBD Milk Rás title became clear yesterday when race director, Dermot Duignam, revealed an international line-up that includes Kazakhstan, one of the superpowers in world cycling.

THERE was a huge shock for Irish cycling last night with news that the two highest-ranking members of the High Performance Committee had resigned their posts.