New professional cycle race to take place in Ireland

A new professional cycle race is set to take place in Ireland, it was revealed today.

Advanced negotiations are underway to set up a professional tour race, to take place in August.

It would be a five-day event, along the same lines as the Nissan Classic, which ran from 1985 to 92, and would feature cycling's top road racers.

Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Galway and Dublin are among the routes being considered for the race.

Cycling journalist Cian Lynch told INN Sport that it would be a big boost for Irish cycling: "It was back in the early nineties that Ireland saw such a stage race - this time it will be markedly different."

"It will be an opportunity for a number of Irish professionals to show their faces here at home, including Ciaran Power and David O’Loughlin who are riding with Navigators Insurance - also possibly Philip Duignan and Nicola Roche, and others such as the Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly/Sean Kelly team."