Toughest Rás yet for in-form Irish riders
Irish cycling's showpiece gets underway in Dublin on Sunday and will ultimately be decided in the heady heights of some of Ireland's highest mountains before the Grand Prix finish in the Phoenix Park on May 30 after eight days of racing.
Tobias Lergard of Sweden appears an obvious favourite. He lost by a mere five seconds to experienced Englishman Chris Newton, last year.
Kazakhstan have named a bunch of 20-year-olds, determined once again to take the field apart in the mountains they filled the top three places in the mountains classification last year. Then there is the experienced Murphy and Gunn Yorkshire team that includes Welshman Julian Winn who won the title four years ago.
Winn is joined by rejuvenated pro Malcolm Elliott, John Tanner, Mark Lovatt and Kevin Dawson all have left their mark in previous years.
"Any one of those is a potential winner," Campbell insisted. "They have been here before and they know what it is all about. That experience means a lot."
Ireland have not won the international team title for four years; Campbell is hoping to alter that, naming a very strong team who have been racing as a unit in places as far afield as South Africa and Malaysia over the past months.
"David McCann, David O'Loughlin, Tommy Evans who is a former winner have all competed at the highest level. Denis Lynch from Cork has been riding with VC La Pomme in France for the past two or three years and Eugene Moriarty has also spent a lot of time racing abroad.
McCann has the experience to peak at precisely the right time and David O'Loughlin feels that he has done everything right this time around.
After picking up valuable UCI points by winning the Shay Elliott Memorial and the Lincoln Grand Prix, the 25pts available in the Rás would boost his bid for Olympic selection.
"But it is going to be a hard race," he admitted yesterday. "We have a strong team and are all capable of winning stages, but there are so many variables in this race."
He has worn the yellow jersey of the race leader, the mountains jersey, the points jersey and won the U-23 category in previous years, but has yet to win a stage. He would like to, but overall victory remains his target.
"Having said that, I feel more relaxed about it this year," he said. "Previously, I would go into the race feeling that not to win would be an absolute disaster and I think I put far too much pressure on myself."
For much of last year's race he looked like a winner but then he fell ill and lost too much time.
"It was very disappointing because I felt so good early on," he recalled. "But the past few [races] have been unlucky for me.
"Because of that, I have prepared better this year. Previously, I would have gone into the race a bit tired from a lot of travel. I have done some good races and the Lincoln was a big boost for me so I feel strong enough."
The stage finishes this year will be in Trim, Oranmore, Charleville, Caherciveen, Millstreet, Seskin Hill, outside Carrick-on-Suir and Tullow. The final stage finish is in the Phoenix Park.
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