CYCLING: Lacey aims for five in-a-row

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.

Upwards of 200 riders are expected to converge on the town for the event, with several of the country’s top amateurs and full-time riders also eager to make their mark.

Lacey, riding for the Cork-based Aquablue team, will have the support of the likes of the evergreen Timmy Barry and Robin Kelly but Paidí O’Brien – now riding for the Planet-Tri racing team, is one rider who will fancy his chances.

O’Brien, a former professional with the An Post/Sean Kelly team in Belgium, has a formidable reputation as a sprinter and should the race come down to a bunch gallop, he’ll he hard to beat.

Team DMG will stack their hopes on promising young riders Richard Hooton and Simon Ryan while junior rider Dylan Foley of the Nicolas Roche performance Team can’t be discounted.

The 75 kilometre race gets underway at 11.45am with riders rolling out from the Manor West Hotel.

As the race is run on a handicap basis, there will be four groups with the first group of Category 4, followed by Category 3, at five minutes while the Category 2 and 1 riders will start at between six minutes and seven minutes back respectively.

The first prime of the race is Gleann na nGealt, which is always hotly-contested by the Category 4 group for the Jackie O’Connor Memorial Trophy. The riders will then travel through Blennerville, Camp, Annascaul, Inch, Castlemaine, over the Slieve Mish climb and back to Tralee.