Thuringer Energie team for Rás return

TONY MARTIN, one of the favourites for this year’s Tour de France, won the FBD Insurance Rás three years ago and the team he led back in 2007, Thuringer Energie, is set for a return for this year’s edition of Irish cycling’s showpiece which gets under way on May 23.

Thuringer Energie plan to launch another exciting team of young prospects on Rás with Marcel Kittel, John Degenkolb, Jakob Steigmiller, Philipp Klein and Bastian Bürgel targeting the final yellow jersey, as well as the best young rider classification.

“Our objective is the overall standings and results on the several stages,” said directeur sportif, Mario Kummer, himself a former Olympian who has worked with the T-Mobile and Astana pro-tour teams.

Kittel, 22, is one of Germany’s most promising young riders, winning the European time trial championships last year and finishing fourth in the under 23 world championship equivalent. His wins include stages in the Flèche du Sud and the Thuringen-Rundfahrt races.

Degenkolb, 21, took a bronze medal in the under 23 world road race championships in Varese 2008, and has continued to gather strong results since. He was third in the 2009 Tour of Flanders for under 23 riders, placed sixth this year, was second in the Under 23 Nations Cup event, La Côte Picardie and won a stage of the Tour de Bretagne.

Like Bürgel, Steigmiller is just 20 years of age. He took a silver medal in the time trial at the world junior championships in 2008, the same year he took three bronze medals at the European track championships. This year he was fifth on a stage of the Tour de Bretagne.

Klein, 22, is a former world junior scratch race champion and was third on a stage of this year’s Cinturón Ciclista Internacional a Mallorca. The team is completed by Bürgel, who was fifth in the 2.2-ranked Mainfranken Tour last year.

This year’s Rás has stage finishes in Dundalk, Carrick on Shannon, Oughterard, Tipperary, Seskin Hill/Carrick on Suir, Gorey, Kilcullen and Skerries and, so far, teams have been confirmed from Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, the USA, Britain and Germany.