An Post outfit the team to beat in Clonmel

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

The six-man selection of Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin, Sean Downey and Jack Wilson (all Irish) as well as UK-rider Kieran Frend and New Zealand’s Shane Archbold are amongst the experienced in the 145-rider field and crucially, have raced at a higher level too.

Manager Kurt Bogaerts expects them to make a big impact in the coming days

“We are confident of a strong showing and beingin the mix. The Irish guys in particular are familiar with the course and have been going well in training over the past number of weeks.”

It’s a major coup for the organisers of one of the country’s showpiece stage races that the Belgian-based team have opted to compete, but they can expect strong challenges from several other top quality teams.

The Irish-registered Continental Polygon Sweet Nice racing team have four of the best home-based riders in their ranks including Ryan Sherlock, who wore the yellow jersey for two days last year. The Monaghan man won last weekend’s Tour of Connacht and he’ll have the support of talented all-rounders Charlie Prendergast, Mark Dowling and Stephen Halpin.

Another home-based team, the Cork-based Aquablue team are spearheaded by the inaugural winner of the Suir Valley in 2007, Sean Lacey, and the Tralee man is expected to feature prominently.

The Planet Tri team are stacked with talent with former An Post rider Paidi O’Brien their star turn. O’Brien is currently the highest ranked domestic amateur and he’ll have the support of Barry Meade, Eddie Barry, Mick Storan and Michael Crowley.

Today’s opener starts and finishes in Clonmel but not before riders tackle 115 kilometres of racing over three categorised climbs.Tomorrow’s second stage is a little easier, and shorter, but the 92 kilometre trek, again starting and finishing in Clonmel is a fast one with riders expected to cover the course in two hours.

Tomorrow night sees the riders tackle a ‘criterium’ race around Clonmel; a 2.1 kilometre circuit that riders will race around for around 50 minutes (45 minutes and three laps) while Monday’s final stage features a category one summit finish atop ‘The Nire’. There are also two category two climbs before it; the Vee and ‘Colligan’.

Racing starts in Clonmelat 1pm on Saturday and concludes on Monday around 2pm.