A GREAT battle for supremacy is assured on Sunday with all the top men going to Carrick-on-Suir for the road race championship and Peter Daly will have a difficult task trying to retain the title he won last year at Portglenone.
Like the other nations affiliated to the UCI, the FIC have switched the title race to what has been designated as championship Sunday, the week before the Tour de France starts, so Daly, who is a member of the team at St Quentin in France, and all the other Irishmen involved with Continental clubs are clear to come home and take part.
Last year Daly won from Bill Moore and Aidan Duff beat Paul Griffin for third place. They all renew their rivalries. David McCann was preparing for departure to the Olympic road race then and did not con test the championship, but he is also back from his French club at Pontivy and, despite a fall last Sunday, will be in the line-up, too.
Andy Roche from the Isle of Man, who became an Irish citizen this year to get on Irish teams and narrowly emerged best in the FBD Milk Ras in May, is back again from his Belgian base and was prominent from the start of the Dublin Wheelers five-day event this week.
There has not been an outstanding personality on the home scene this season but Ciaran Power, Karl Donnelly and Raymond Clarke have emphasised their claims for consideration in recent weeks.
The circuit of 11 miles taking in Fiddown and Piltown is the one used when the championship was last held in Carrick, in 1984, when Paul Kimmage won from Eddie Madden with Tony Murphy third. Ten laps will be covered this time. The junior title race is over six laps.
. Stephen O'Sullivan from Bray was second to Willie Byrne at the end of stage four of the Dublin Wheelers five-day race at Swords last evening and retained his overall lead going into the final stage this evening in the Phoenix Park.
A group of four broke away and built up a lead of 26 seconds, but at the end of the 32 miles the advantage was down to just 12 seconds. In the sprint to the line, Byrne held O'Sullivan off, with Christopher Kimmage and David Peelo third and fourth.
