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Ronan targets Ras stage win
20.05.11
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
THE An Post Ras starts next weekend and Inishowen
will be well represented with Rory Devlin and Damian
Lagan selected for the County Donegal team.
Belgium-based professional Ronan McLaughlin will
also feature in the five man An Post team.
The Ras starts on Sunday in Dunboyne and over 1,247
and eight daily stages, follows a circuit through
Portumna, Kilrush, Castleisland, Castletownbere,
Blarney, Tramore, Kildare before finishing in
Skerries in North County Dublin. |
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McLaughlin last
competed in the Ras in 2007, but feels he is in much
better shape to make an impact this time around and
is targetting a stage win … at least.
“2007 was only my second year as a senior, and I’m
much better prepared now,” he said.
“I’m looking for a stage win, but the Ras is very
unpredictable. You have to treat every day like a
singe stage race and go at it full tilt.
He achieved his best ever result in a recent fitness
test and, other than a minor shoulder problem, he
says he is in top shape.
“I was hit by a car three weeks ago. The bike took
the worst of the impact but I missed a week’s
training and while my shoulder isn’t too bad I can
feel it at times.”
“The season has gone well so far,” he continued. |
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Ronan McLaughlin. |
“I haven’t perhaps had
the results that I had last year, no top ten
finishes or King of the Mountains titles, but that’s
because I’ve been going all out for overall wins.”
McLaughlin will be part of a five man team, with
fellow Irishmen Mark Cassidy and Mark McNally,
Englishman Sam Bennett and Gediminas Bagdonas.
“I feel I have picked the strongest five for this
race,” team manager Kurt Bogaerts said.
“Bennett and Cassidy are both previous stage winners
of the race, while Ronan McLaughlin has been one of
our strongest riders recently. Mark McNally also has
good experience of the race, while Gediminas
Bagdonas won at the weekend and looks in top shape.”
As a full time professional team and one sponsored
by the overall sponsors, McLaughlin acknowledges
that there will be a bit of extra pressure on them.
“It’s a big deal for our team and there will be a
bit of pressure on us,” he said.
“In the race, everyone is keeping an eye on us,”
McLaughlin continued. “If one of our cyclists makes
a break, everyone else gets right on top of him. It
certainly makes it more challenging.”
“And there’s a saying in the Ras that you can lose
five minutes today and make up ten minutes tomorrow.
You just can’t relax for a minute. From the first
kilometre on, it’s attack, attack, attack.”
Meanwhile North Pole Cyclists Rory Devlin and Damian
Lagan have been chosen for the Donegal-LK Bikes team
that will compete at the Ras. It’s the first time in
20 years that a Donegal team has entered the race.
Devlin has been in flying form in recent weeks,
picking up a tremendous silver medal at the NI
Cycling Championships in Donaghadee, County Down,
last weekend. Devlin was pipped by just half a wheel
in the race for gold.
Donegal-LK Bikes manager Michael Black congratulated
Rory on his weekend performances, saying that it
validated his place in the county’s Ras team. |
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