Tour of Ireland: 27-31 August
by fmk on Aug 23, 2008 8:51 PM EDT
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PrintWednesday sees the second edition of the resurrected Tour of Ireland – or an Cuairt na hÉireann as the gaelgóirí in the house might think it should be called – rolling off from Dublin's Docklands. Covering 900kms in five days the race rates as a 2.1 on the UCI's calender and features sixteen seven-man teams competing for the ultimate glory of the geansaí buí and a Waterford Crystal trophy. Plus a few euro to pay the petrol bills.
Back in the Kelly-Roche era the car manufacturer formerly known as Datsun used to sponsor a Tour of Ireland – the Nissan Classic (1985-1992) – which Seán Kelly won four out of the event's eight stagings. Once Kelly and Stephen Roche stopped winning, cycling officially stopped happening in Ireland. Except for 1998 when Le Tour started here before going tits up in a doping controversy. Which had nothing to do with us. Honest. The race wasn't broken when it left us. If it was broken when it left us it must have been broken before it arrived here. We only dope horses. And maybe a swimmer. Or two. And the odd athlete. But not cyclists. Never. Ever.
Last year Darach McQuaid (younger brother of Pat - please don't talk about a Murphia) and the folks at the Events Group and Shadetree Sports decided to resurrect the race. The inaugural running of the revived Tour of Ireland managed to entice the likes of CSC and T-Mobile over from the ProTour plus a dose of assorted other teams not too busy doing anything else. Like maybe that likkle biddy bike race over in Spain. It was won by Stijn Vandenbergh of Unibet.com, who bagged the first stage and then held onto the geansaí buí for the rest of the race. The other stage winners were Matti Breschel (CSC), Borut Bozic (Team LPR), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo Bianchi) and Marco Marcato (Team LPR). Day-by-day post-mortems can be found at CN.
This year Columbia (who either snubbed or were snubbed by that likkle biddy bike race over in Spain) and Rabobank (who are on a bit of a marketing drive over here) drew the short straw and have the honour to represent the ProTour teams. The rest of the field is fleshed out by the good (Garmin), the local (An Post-M Donnelly-Grant Thorton-Sean Kelly Team, Irish National Team, Pezula Cycling, Pinarello-CandiTV, Rapha-Condor/Recycling.co.uk), the who-the-hell-are-they (USA's Team Type 1, Norway's Joker Bianchi, South Africa's MTN Energade, Belgium's TopSport Vlaanderen, Australia's SouthAustralia.com/AIS and Spain's Karpin Galicia Cycling Team) and a couple of well-someone's-gotta-welcome-thems (CSF Group Navigare and Tinkoff Credit Systems). But at least we don't have Lionel Birnie on our backs about who got invited.
Back in the Tour of Ireland's days as the Nissan Classic, Pat McQuaid was a very vocal race director and Seán Kelly was expected to win every edition of the race. While McQuaid's gone on to be the top dog in the UCI, Kelly is this year returning to the race as a team manager, with his challengingly (and somewhat modestly) titled An Post-M Donnelly-Grant Thorton-Sean Kelly Team. Try saying that without taking a breath, I dare ya. An Post, for those who don't know, is to Ireland what USP is to the US. Only without the insinuendo about drugs. Grant Thornton is a firm of bean counters. It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it. M Donelly sells power tools and accessories. Whatever the hell they are.
Even if all the teams had named full rosters by now and I'd gone and looked them up most of the names wouldn't mean much to most. Well, me anyway. But names to look out for might include: Columbia's Mark Cavendish, Bernhard Eisel, Frantisek Rabon and Marco Pinnotti; Garmin's Daniel Martin, David Millar and Magnus Backstedt; An Post's Stephen Gallagher, Paidi O'Brien, Mark Cassidy, Daniel Lloyd and Dan Fleeman; the Irish National Team's David McCann, Paul Griffin and Michael Concannon; or Pezula's David O'Louglin and Ciaran Power. If you think anyone else is worth paying attention to, well that's what the big box at the bottom of the page is for.
Like Cavendish, O'Loughlin is fresh back from Beijing and should have got over his travails in the Laoshan Veldrome and be on for at least challenging for a stage win. Nobody's expecting a stage win from Cavendish - they're expecting multiple stage-wins. Anything less will be an abject failure and will see him being sent back to the Isle of Man. By ferry. Without any Guinness. And with only Daniel O'Donnell trax on his iPod. Eisel did reasonably well here last year and could be worth watching at the weekend when Cavendish is likely to be shelled out the back. Martin will be looking to prove that Garmin can actually win more than just the PR war. You can expect to see some co-operating going on between Pezula, An Post and the Irish National Team. If you can't win your home Tour yourself, the least you can do is try and make sure it isn't won by some Johnny Foreigner. Or worse, a Brit.
The race can count itself lucky to be coming to Ireland at a moment when most of the doping talk here is about horses and whether equestrianism should be excluded from the Olympics come the official review next year. Seldom do cyclists get an opportunity to feel superior and lecture o
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Great Preview...
…except for one thing. The “who the hell are they” comment about Team Type 1 means you obviously didn’t follow any domestic racing this year. The squad finished third (behind Slipstream and Astana) at the Tour de Georgia and won the team race at the Tour de Beauce. Not to mention the fact that they have as many or more Olympians (2) than nearly any other pro-continental U.S.-registered squad. Don’t count out Ed Beamon’s boys.
by Chief Commissaire on Aug 23, 2008 10:58 PM EDT reply actions
i think fmk might be british
but i could be wrong. that might ‘spain the 404 on team type 1. This must be one of their first races outside the US, isn’t it?
oopsy...
gav’s drinkin’ and typin’ that should read, that might ‘splain… as in that’s why he might not know team type 1
Team Type 1 Race Calendar
Team Type 1 has raced outside the U.S. a number of times – and even has a separate kit for international competition. Tour of Langkawi, Tour de Taiwan (second overall and a stage win), Tour de Beauce (team champs, third overall, KOM, sprint leader, stage win) and now the Tour of Ireland.
by Chief Commissaire on Aug 24, 2008 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
If only I'd been paying attention last year ...
… I’d have known that TT1 are returning to the Tour of Ireland. More on VeloNews.
"The Tour of Ireland is a top-shelf event offering some of the best in European cycling," Beamon said.
I’ll bet he says that in every country they race in.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
One person's domestic scene is another person's foreign ...
… though to be fair to myself, I had actually heard of TT1. Beamon beat Ball for that USPRO seat. But as to their racing prowess … am pretty damned ignorant.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
here's their bloggy
They’re in the top ten in the US rankings. Strong, but not dominating is probably a fair assessment.
lol, awesome preview, thanks :-)
Vastly entertaining read.
Have you ever watched the viddies of the 1980s Tour of Ireland? Those thingies are priceless. Quite the cult classics in some circles. The ‘80s U2 soundtrack just makes it. And there’s some classic commentary, I’m forgetting who did it actually. But funny stuff, if you’re in the right frame of mind. Oh, and I think it rained every day of the races I’ve seen there.
That’d be Jimmy Magee doing the commentary. Had a thing about dogs IIRC. Always thought they were going to leap the barrier, dive under a wheel and bring the whole peloton down. He’s still going strong is Magee, was commenting on the boxing in Beijing only this morning. But I think it’s Phil ‘n’ Paul being wheeled in for the commentary this year.
The Nissan was a beautiful little race, especially with Kelly and Roche and Earley and Kimmage riding it. It was sort of arranged that all the Irish riders rode for Kelly. Ask Steve Bauer, who lost the geansaí buí on the final stage one year when some other Irish riders started blocking him in and tugging his jersey on the final circuit. I’m sure he’s over it now but he was pretty pissed bout it at the time.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Gah!
Now how did I miss that? Probably too busy looking at other links to notice it.
I love the fact that a vet like Malcolm Elliott is riding it. Never liked him mind you. He rode it back in it’s Nissan days. He’s won a few sprint stages over here. I saw the Comic listing him as winner of some Brit crit a couple months back. Either that says great things about his legs or terrible things about the quality of the opposition.
As I feared though, most of dem names mean nothing to me.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
great preview
a bit surprised to see that the pink boys Plowman Craven are not racing it, I thought they were a somewhat big deal over ‘there’
David Blanco wins the Tour of Portugal
Hector Guerra wins the final ITT but stays in second with 25 secs of Blanco.
Daniel Martin lost his white jersey for Tiago MAchado with 11 seconds of disavantage
1º 31 BLANCO, David ESP PALMEIRAS RESORT-TAV 39:49:45
2º 11 GUERRA, Hector ESP LIBERTY SEGUROS a 26
3º 3 PLAZA, Ruben ESP BENFICA a 03:59
4º 84 COBO, Juan Jose ESP SCOTT-AMERICAN BEEF a 04:42
5º 13 GIL, Koldo ESP LIBERTY SEGUROS a 05:39
6º 22 MANCEBO, Francisco ESP FERCASE/ ROTA DOS MO a 06:36
7º 18 SOUSA, Rui POR LIBERTY SEGUROS a 06:39
8º 2 BARBOSA, Candido POR BENFICA a 07:00
9º 51 MACHADO, Tiago POR MADEINOX BOAVISTA a 07:53
10º 114 MARTIN, Daniel IRL GARMIN-CHIPOTLE a 08:04
white in the Tour of France
in TdP the young jersey is orange.
by semprenaroda on Aug 24, 2008 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Orange?
Ah well, that explains why Martin surrendered the jersey then.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Daniel Martin
Team-mate Lucas Euser on the member of Clan Roche, the kid they call Danny Boy::
Dan Martin. He is officially the next greatest thing to come to professional cycling. […] You have seen him win one of France’s most prestigious races, the Route du Sud. He dominated the Irish national championships. Dan […] is packed full of natural talent and knows how to use it. But what you don’t see is the best part about him. At the end of the day, win or lose, he is going to tell you that you did a good job and he is going to raise your spirits. He may be one of the nicest people I have ever met and I will go as far as saying he is the nicest cyclist I know. Dan suffers more than anyone out there – day in and day out – and never complains about a thing. He once told me, "I’m the most positive person I know" and he wasn’t bragging. As a matter of fact, he was just being modest.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Glad so many enjoyed the preview. Hope you get to enjoy the race, where ever you are. It may not be the most exciting racing of the season, but it should be fun. And if it isn’t fun, at least it’ll be purty.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Thanks, yeah
fmk, I don’t know if it’s your writing style, but I could hear an Oirish accent in there. Honest, I could, ya knows now :-)
If Graham Watson’s photos from last year are anything to go by it should do Fáilte Ireland no harm at all. That’s if the weather plays fair – a friend of mine (originally from Cork) returned from two weeks cycle touring and had enough rain to last her 3 months.
There is an hour of highlights each day on ITV4 in the UK, starting at 7pm on Wednesday.
Wonderful stuff
That’s certainly persuaded to follow this one a bit closer. But it’s a bit of a surprise to see Graham Watson covering this one. Shouldn’t he be a bit further south following the Astana boys. Or is he more of a franchise these days, cycling’s own Ernst Blofeld sending out masked henchmen around the world while hiding away in some mountain stronghold.
I suspect it has
something to do with Watson being from the UK. He’ll show up in Spain too, I’m sure. He’s never been directly connected with one team organization over another, as far as I know. Cyclesport seemed to be his bread and butter for a long time.
by Christopher See on Aug 24, 2008 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Tour of Britain
He’d only be missing a day form the Vuelta. Though the Tour of Britain is on during the Vuelta – 7-14 Sept. Possibly he intends earning a bit of dosh at that, as it’s about the only other race the Brit newspapers will actually cover this year.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Excellent preview fmk! I watched as much as I could get
last year, I am of Irish and Scottish heritage so seeing the Irish countryside during the race coverage is intriguing as it is beautiful.
I survived the 2008 PdC Olympic Road Race Live Threads
Versus to have daily coverage in the US.
From the Versus Coverage Webpage:
(no mention of time zones)
8/27/2008 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Stage 1 : Dublin to Waterford, 192km
112 riders from 16 teams start from futuristic Grand Canal Square in Dublin Docklands heading to Waterford on terrain best described as ‘undulating’. The riders will wind their way through the south of Dublin on a 10km neutralised route until the flag finally drops at the National Mint at Dundrum. The race heads south to County Wicklow, through Enniskerry and into Roundwood where the first of the sprints in the An Post Green Jersey competition will be contested. Proceeding through Rathdrum, the race crosses into County Carlow and the town of Bunclody before reaching the major climb of the day, the 6km first category climb of Mount Leinster. Two further climbs, including Inistioge will be encountered on the way to the finish in the historic port city of Waterford, finishing on the Quays just several yards from where the Tour de France sprint line was located when that famous race visited Ireland in 1998.
8/28/2008 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Stage 2 : Thurles to Loughrea, 158km
A rolling stage start from Liberty Square in the busy Tipperary town of Thurles. This stage is a big opportunity for the top sprinters and their teams to show their prowess in a possible high speed bunch sprint finish. Team Columbia’s Mark Cavendish, a winner of four stages in this year’s Tour de France, will want his team to keep the race together for a bunch sprint. The route goes westward to Silvermines and Portroe before swinging northward running parallel with the edge of Lough Derg and into Portumna for the second An Post sprint of the day. The riders head west again through the town of Puckaun turning north west towards Loughrea. The race will pass through the finish line and the town centre and then head out to complete a 13km circuit of Lough Rea before returning to the town to finish near the court house.
8/29/2008 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Stage 3 : Ballinrobe – Galway, 201km
This stage has three tough climbs giving the overall contenders their first chance to gain time. Starting from Ballinrobe, the riders race through to Cong and follow the scenic road along Lough Mask crossing in and out of the Galway border with Mayo. The race ascends the 2nd category climb of Finny and then onto the pretty town of Westport via Killavally. The sprinters get their first opportunity of the day to score points for the An Post Green Jersey in Westport before the race winds its way out to Louisburgh and along the bottom of the historic mountain of Croagh Patrick. The riders then turn left and ride through Lough Doo Valley towards Killary Harbour , then passing through Leenáun and brushing the banks of Lough Corrib. The final climb on this very tough stage is just before Moycullen, at Keeagh, which the riders will tackle before descending into Spiddal and racing along the coast to finish on the waterfront in Salthill.
8/31/2008 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Stage 5 : Killarney to Cork, 155km
The final stage of the 2008 Tour of Ireland, in association with Fáilte Ireland, is a fast predominantly flat ride between Killarney and Cork City. The riders reach Cork after 80km coming in from Blarney where the first An Post sprint will take place. They then face the prospect of climbing the infamous St Patrick’s Hill on each of four laps of a very tough 17km finishing circuit. The 25% climb of St Patrick’s Hill will be lined with spectators as the riders gasp for air on one of the toughest city climbs on the professional circuit. The finish line is on McCurtain Street will also see the final two An Post sprints take place to decide the overall winner in this competition. The final battle for the Yellow Jersey will go down to the wire on this very tough circuit in Cork. The atmosphere will be electric as stage and overall battles play out in front of thousands of spectators.
I survived the 2008 PdC Olympic Road Race Live Threads
S3 is being talked up there a bit. It’s bumpy, but doesn’t really have the sort of climbs suggested.
No S4 in the coverage? That really is the one to watch. The Conor Pass is brutal but beautiful and the day really suits an escape artist.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
I did notice no stage 4. Weird. Maybe they'll do a wrap up on Stage 5 coverage.
I survived the 2008 PdC Olympic Road Race Live Threads
OUch
So, I actually clicked on that Daniel O’Donnell link . . . and nearly fell out of my seat watching a bunch of middle-aged Irish women singing along to “Show me the way to Amarillo” . . . That’s easy—go to Lubbock and take the Interstate north. Now why you’d WANT to go to Amarillo . . .
The ONLY reason to go to Amarillo
is to pass through it on the way to somewhere else….anywhere else.
"...The mind has to rule the body and tell the body, shut up and do what I tell you to do..." Jens!
Live Updates
Shane Stokes is doing text coverage of the race. Sad news is that Dan Martin has a stomach bug.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Team Type 1 Lost Glen Chadwick
Sounds like all that travel caught up to him.
by Chief Commissaire on Aug 28, 2008 3:30 AM EDT up reply actions
not a surprise given the huge amount of travel in the past weeks
and some racing, like the Olympics, in there too
One of my new favorite names
appears in the top 5 for stage 1 – Boy Van Poppel! What’s not to like about that name?
Great cross rider, natch.
He was Junior world champ back in 2006, nice to see he’s doing something on the road too. He can’t be more than 20.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
I call my mother’s dog dog. My nephew keeps giving out to me saying the dog has a name and I shouldn’t call it dog. So I call him boy.
Boy Van Poppel is Jean-Paul’s brat, isn’t he? Now there was a sprinter.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
A bunch sprint
and another win for Cavendish. He was interviewed afterwards and said he was still in a bit of a sulk for not doing better at the Olympics. I wonder when he and Brad Wiggins are next due to ride together again?
Tour of Britain on Sunday week.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Apparently not any more
The sponsors have asked that he ride the Tour of Missouri instead. The happy reunion will have to wait a while. Still a few more stage wins should cheer him up a bit. 14 so far this year and counting.
Cav out of ToB
And now Cav’s out of the Tour of Britain. Snubbing Britain for Tour de Misery. That is soooo not going to go down well in the UK. And he might be out of the Team GB World’s squad too … that would be a nice way of thanking Brailsford for messing up his Madison hopes.
Wiggins apparently is in the ToB line-up but having done hardly any road work this year I wouldn’t expect much from him over there. If only all the stages were three or four minutes longs I’m sure he’d shine.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
He shouldn't be on the Worlds squad anyway
No knock against him but he’d never be in contention. When guys like Rebellin, DiLuca, Bettini and Valvderde are saying it’s a perfect course for them, guys like Cavendish should take the hint.
Shit, only Oscarito would be considered a sprinter who had a good chance. That doesn’t bode well for Cav.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
I wouldn’t have figured him for the World’s either. The Team GB Olympic road race performance was piss-poor and I wouldn’t see them being able to assemble the sort of team he needs.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
And that would be
4 guys pushing him from behind. That’s not likely to happen.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Hey, he was up there at the front over Ireland’s Mt Ventoux yesterday! :)
Though he did get shelled out on some of the bumps heading down the estuary into Waterford. Eisel had to drop back and drag him up.
Am not knocking the guy, he’s a fantastic sprinter and what the sport needs. And like with Kelly, his climbing will probably improve in time. But it’ll probably blunt his sprint a bit when it does. But when he’s winning by bike lengths he can afford to blunt his sprint a little bit!
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
Totally
I’d rather have him improve his climbing just enough to get him to Paris each year…..with 3 stage wins along the way.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
I saw the Olympic results
but didn’t see the race. Was there something controversial about them not medalling, or was it simply a case of the other teams having a better day? Any hard feelings between Wiggins and Cav?
Nothing controversial, was just a shite road squad. They weren’t really expected to medal, but they could have at least finished. But they all DNFed without even poking their noses out for a bit. There’s guys that could have finished – Hayles probably, but I think he was snubbed after his March Manchester screw-up. Wegelius definitely, but they won’t pick him over after his 2005 Worlds’ ride. The selection is sort of symptomatic of the lack of respect Brailsford has for the road. And shows why Dan Martin opted to go with his mother’s passport and not his father’s.
I dunno if there’s bad blood between Wiggins and Cav, I doubt it. If there’s bad blood over the Madison then it’s got to be with Brailsford, who could have rested Wiggins from one of the other events and saved him for the Madison.
Personally, I think a road guy like Cav is better as far way from Team GB as he can get. The road isn’t serious for them. It’s not minority-interest enough for them to be able to safely predict performances to their paymasters.
And I’m sorry, but with Max Sciandri DSing for the Team GB squad, I’d really rather see Cav safely tucked up with Stapleton’s crew.
pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway
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