Olympic mountain bike champion Bart Brentjens arrived in Dublin last evening ready to lead top team Tegeltoko from Holland on today's opening stage of the FBD Milk Ras from Dublin to Roscommon.

Brentjens leads a much-changed team, and will be joined by Pelle Kil, Jeroem Slagter, Wiljan van Riel and Roger van der Wal.

The majority of the riders signed on at the Dublin headquarters, and organiser Dermot Dignam's prediction of a record line-up of over 170 is expected to be achieved.