2014 winner Clemens Fankhauser plus past Tour of Qatar champion Wouter Mol are the latest riders confirmed for this year’s An Post Rás
Fankhauser has rejoined the Austria Tirol Cycling Team, with which he won An Post Rás in 2014 and is in superb form in the build up to the 2016 event.
He finished second in the most difficult stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali last month, as well as taking 12th place overall. Most recently, he placed fifth in the 1.2-ranked GP Adria Mobil last Sunday. The 30 year-old must be regarded as a major favourite to lift the trophy.
The final team line-up will be confirmed in May but three out of the four riders who will start alongside him have been named. Martin Weiss won a stage in the Giro del Friuli in 2014 and was also runner-up in the GP del Marmo the same year.
Patrick Bosman has also shown his talent in the past, netting third in a stage of the Giro Valle d’Aosta in 2014 and second on a stage of the 2015 Tour of China while Alexander Wachter was European Junior Road Race champion in 2012 and took a stage in the 2015 Carpathian Couriers race.
The squad has a superb record in An Post Rás, taking victory in 2014 with Fankhauser and winning last year with Lukas Postlberger.
“As the team has won the Rás twice we have quite a lot of pressure on us to top this result,” states team sports director Hannes Kapeller.
“But I think a stage win and a top three in the general classification will be our goal. In preparation we will do a lot of racing in Italy, some under-23 races and some 1.2 races. The team will do the Giro del Trentino in the end of April, which is a big honour for us.”
Another strong team for the race is the Netherlands Team Join-S | De Rijke squad. The likely line-up includes Wouter Mol, who won the Tour of Qatar in 2010 while part of the Vacansoleil team.
Jetse Bol competed for Belkin in the past and went close to winning Paris-Tours in 2013. He also won the Olympia’s Tour twice. The team will be completed by Ike Groen joined by Robbert de Greef and Jordi Sloof, who will both target the general classification.
“Our goal is to be present and aggressive in the final of each stage and see if we can get someone on the podium of the general classification,” states team manager Frank Kwanten. “Furthermore it is important for us to have the young riders understand what it means to race for so many days in a row and to discover Ireland. Ike Groen will be our leader for the race.”
The team will compete in Croatia and the Fleche du Sud in Luxembourg as part of the build-up for Post Rás.
“For all five riders the month of May marks a peak in their season,” states Kwanten. “This means they need to be at their best level.”
This year’s An Post Rás will total almost 1240 kilometres, and will include 25 categorised climbs. The race will roll out from Dublin Castle on Sunday May 22nd, with the venue chosen to mark the 2016 Easter Rising commemorations.
The world-ranked event will feature stage finishes in Multyfarnham, Charleville, Dingle, Sneem, Clonakilty, Dungarvan, Baltinglass and Skerries.
