Olympic road race a good test of Scanlon’s form

Brendan Mooney

Reports would indicate that the 1998 world junior champion may be a little bit tired going into the race and that may not all be due to the Tour de France but rather to the subsequent races ­ a world cup race in Germany and then the Tour of Denmark.

He has only had five days rest since the Tour de France and is on an eight day break from his team before he goes into another stage race in France on Tuesday week.

“Sometimes a rider will think he is tired and then discover he is not when he gets into the race,” Pat McQuaid said last evening. “All you can do is see how he copes with the extreme heat.”

He said the circuit would suit Ciaran Power, who is riding in his second Olympics.

“The circuit should suit him. It is a city centre circuit and while it is a bit longer (13.2km) than he is used to, he races those type of streets all the time in the US and will not have to make any great adjustments,” he said.

And those were the sentiments of Power himself after training on the circuit on Wednesday evening.

Like Mark Scanlon, he enjoyed an excellent debut year in the professional ranks highlighted by a top six placing in a stage in the Tour of Italy.

Unlike Scanlon, he has prepared specifically for the Olympics. First there was qualification and then two weeks of preparation at a training camp in Cyprus which went exceptionally well.