Cycling Weekly column: Dermot Nally looks set to win the intermediate sprints competition in the prestigious Tour of the Basque Country after being involved in a long-distance attack for the second day running in the race, and fortifying his lead in the classification.
The Spanish-based Corkman, a first-year professional, had won the three intermediate sprints on Wednesday's stage of the 2.HC event, which is ranked just one step below the Tours of France, Italy and Spain, and yesterday took a further seven points during the 171 kilometre stage. The race ends today with two short stages, a 91 kilometre race and then a 13 kilometre time trial.
Nally is all but assured of an excellent victory in the competition, with team-mate Carlos Torrent five points back and yesterday's stage winner Marco Pinotti a full eight points in arrears.
Elsewhere, Ciarán Power's selfless team riding set up one of his Navigators team-mates for another big finish in a top European event when Henk Vogels finished a close second in the Ghent-Wevelgem semi-classic in Belgium. The Waterford professional went clear with Vogels in a dangerous, 26-man breakaway and sacrificed his chances of a high finish in working for the Australian.
Power eventually finished a good 33rd, crossing the line in a small group six minutes and 16 seconds behind the winner Andreas Klier and Vogels, and alongside such established names such as Tom Steels and the former world champion Oscar Friere.
Also on the Continent, Irish road race champion Geraldine Gill (VC Quintin) rode well to place third in a 50.6 kilometre road race in St Rieul last weekend, breaking clear with two other riders. The trio finished 20 seconds ahead of the main group, with French-based Gill finishing third in the sprint.
In conjunction with Cycling Ulster, Track Cycling Ireland will be holding track evaluations on Saturday, April 20th, and Saturday, May 10th, at the Tommy Givan Memorial Stadium in Orangefield, Belfast. Further details will be available over the next few days on www.trackcyclingireland.com and www.cyclingireland.com.
Finally, the organisers of this year's Wicklow 200 have opened their online entry system for the event, which takes place on Sunday, June 8th. Those interested in riding can pay the application fee by credit card on www.wicklow200.ie, where they can also get route details for the tough round-Wicklow tour.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday: Brendan Carroll Memorial, Stamullen. Starts 2.30, underage races at 3.45. East Tyrone Spring Classic, Drum Manor, Cookstown. Starts 12 noon.
Sunday: Stamullen GP, Stamullen. Starts 1 pm. Ras Duhallow, starts 1 pm. Underage at 11 am. Castlereagh GP, starts 1 pm.
