Aussie star O’Grady poised to put extra pep in Tour challenge
The powerful Aussie may provide an interesting challenger for Maximiliano Richeze, of Ceramica Panaria-Navigare, particularly in the Tralee to Ennis and Athlone to Dublin stages which may develop into bunch finishes.
Richeze narrowly missed out on a stage victory when he was pipped by Alessandro Petacchi in the final stage of the Giro d’Italia in Milan and has had an amazing start to the season finishing on the podium in six stages of the Tour of Langkawi. He is confirmed to feature in the Irish tour.
Team CSC, who confirmed their participation earlier this week, currently has Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck and O’Grady in the UCI top 12 individual rider world rankings following the Giro D’Italia.
It will be interesting to see if O’Grady is named when the team members for the Tour of Ireland are announced but it should be remembered that Director Sportif Kim Andersen has a wealth of talent to choose from including big names like Fabian Cancellara, Bobby Julich and David Zabriske.
Ciarán Power and David O’Loughlin have been named in the Navigators Insurance cycle team announced by Director Sportif Ed Beamon for the race. Also included in the seven-man US-based squad are Kristian House, Hilton Clarke, Valeriy Kobzarenko, Sergey Lagutin and Phil Zajicek.
O’Loughlin figured in the Tour of Canada last week with fifth placing on a stage. The Mayoman has won Irish national titles at junior, under-23 and senior. He has also won the Irish championships’ triple-crown by winning senior time-trial, criterium and road race titles.
Ciarán Power is a double Olympian from the Sydney and Athens games. The 31-year-old sprinter from Waterford is a former overall champion and multiple stage winner of the FBD Insurance Rás. Power added two king of the mountains jerseys to his Palmares last year in the Rás and Tour of Ulster.
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