Irish EvoPro Racing team line-up confirmed for Rás Tailteann

With less than a week to go until the start of the Rás Tailteann, the line-up of Irish team EvoPro Racing for the event has been announced.

All five riders selected for the race are Irish, with Conn McDunphy, Tom Moriarty, Liam Curley, Mitchell McLaughlin and Cian Keogh those picked to contest the five-day event.

McDunphy is the oldest and most experienced of the five, winning the national time-trial championships in 2020 and netting third in last year’s road-race championships. The 25-year-old has ridden solidly this season, with placings including eighth in the PWZ Suidenveld Tour at the end of April and 14th on the opening stage of the Ronde de l’Oise last week. McDunphy was eighth on the penultimate stage of the 2018 Rás Tailteann, the most recent edition held.

Keogh was the bronze medallist in last year’s under-23 time-trial championships, while McLaughlin took the same placing one year earlier. Curley was sixth in that race in 2021. Moriarty is the youngest of the squad at 19, and was Irish junior road-race champion in 2019.

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All five of the riders competed in the Ronde de l’Oise, building their form prior to the Rás.

Race organisers Cáirde Rás Tailteann said the team’s participation in the event was important.

“It is great to see this group of Irish riders evolving and we look forward to some solid performances during the race from them. No doubt they will be ones to watch considering their experience and results at home and abroad these last few seasons. Definitely a team that will be chasing stage and overall honours.”

The team will be guided by ex-professional and former national champion Morgan Fox.

The organisation has also greeted the recent announcement by Cycling Ireland that a strong national team will take part. The line-up will see Rory Townsend act as road captain, guiding four promising under-23 riders. These are Archie Ryan, Dean Harvey, Adam Ward and Paul-Antoine Hagan.

Race director Ger Campbell said he has high expectations. “The Rás certainly wouldn’t be the Rás without the Irish team and that is no less the case in 2022. The Irish team always acquits itself well and we don’t expect anything less this year.

“We think that this team has the prerequisites for both stage and overall honours, we just have to wait and see how they assess their fellow competitors and adapt their game plan according to how the race unfolds.”

Also set to compete in the race is the Cycling Sheffield team, which previously helped nurture the career of 2018 British road-race champion and current professional Connor Swift. The line-up comprises five Britons, namely George Wood, Will Harding, Joe Coukham, James McKay and James Hawkins.

Wednesday’s announcement completes the unveiling of the international teams for the race.

The Rás Tailteann will begin in Dublin on Wednesday, June 15th and will conclude on Sunday, June 19th. There will be stage finishes in Horse and Jockey, Castleisland, Lisdoonvarna, Kilbeggan and Blackrock, Co Louth.

In other news, Lara Gillespie is one of 15 individuals awarded individual grants under the Paris Olympic Scholarship awards, announced on Wednesday. The 21-year-old from Enniskerry in Wicklow missed much of the 2021 season due to illness but is one of Ireland’s most promising young riders and will shortly resume training with the rest of the Irish track team in Mallorca.

She will receive a grant of €15,000 to help her build towards the Summer Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Gillespie’s past results include six European championships medals, beginning with gold in the junior points race and silver in the junior pursuit in 2018, three silver medals in the European junior championships the following year and then under 23 silver in the individual pursuit last season.

She also took the silver medal in the time-trial at the 2017 Youth Olympics and became Ireland’s first medallist at the world junior track championships, taking bronze in 2019. In 2020 she won the Irish national road-race championships and also the national scratch race championships on the track. As a senior rider she took a gold medal in the team pursuit and bronze in the Omnium at the St Petersburg World Cup in July 2021.