Irish cycling's flagship event, the FBD Milk Ras, looks set to become even more important next season after being allocated valuable world-ranking points. The announcement comes after months of campaigning and planning by race organiser Dermot Dignam, which has secured the necessary support of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the Irish Sports Council and the sponsors, FBD Insurances and the Milk Marketing Board.
The move is a huge boost to the 48-year-old event, and to Irish cycling in general. According to Dignam, "prize money will increase and we will have a bigger selection of foreign teams to pick from. The race is probably one of the toughest of its kind in the world and it is great that the efforts of the teams and riders will now be recognised in the awarding of world-ranking points."
At present, Ireland is outside the top 30 countries in the world (currently 32nd), thus missing out on automatic qualification to the world championships. From next year, however, the points awarded to the 2.5 ranked Ras should do much to boost the country's international standing.
Clearly, introducing the new format will necessitate changes to the race, but Dignam is keen to stress that the character of the round-Ireland tour will remain essentially as it is.
"The Ras is a very unique race in that it allows the club rider to race against some of the best internationals. Preserving that balance is of the utmost importance to us, and we are not going to drastically change the quality of the field."
Stage distances, too, will be unchanged, although UCI rules necessitate the reduction of the race to an eight-day event. Consequently it will run from Sunday to Sunday - in next year's case from the 20th to the 27th of May.
As for budget, the increase over this year's figure will be covered by the Irish Sports Council. "Basically, the upgrade wouldn't be possible without them," says Dignam. "Once they heard that the race would put Ireland on the international calendar, they were interested. The sponsors too have been very supportive."
Meanwhile, the teams for next week's world junior and under-23 championships have been finalised. Following his strong display in recent weeks, Mark Scanlon looks to have the best prospects of the Irish quartet which will contest the under-23 race next Friday, being joined by Keith Gallagher, Dermot Nally and David O'Loughlin.
Scanlon and O'Loughlin - who are finetuning their preparation with guest slots on the Linda McCartney team - will contest the time trial on Tuesday. Tim Cassidy, Philip Duignan, Michael Dennehy and Colin Armstrong have been named for the junior team, which will also race this day week.
Olympians Ciaran Power and David McCann, plus Aidan Duff, Tommy Evans and Eugene Moriarty are currently in action, racing in the Herald Sun Tour in Australia.
