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FBD INSURANCE RAS, IRISH SUCCESS IN 2007... PROVINCIAL TEAMS THE KEY?
By Paddy Doran
Dec 2, 2006
THe FBD Insurance Ras has one of Irish Sports best sponsors, a great organising team and is a very competitive event for Irish cyclist's. however based on the results of the last six years the FBD RAS performances of Irish riders need to improve substantially if there is to be more Irish successes in Irelands premier cycling event.
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| ciaran Power Heading for a stage Win in 2006 |
For the public interest and to create lots of publicity for the sponsors it is important to have more Irish riders fighting for the overall prize and winning more stages.
Some statistics: During the last six years,Irish riders have won two overall classifications and 13 individual stages from 48 stages. with some changes in the approach to the RAS and better preparation by more Irish riders this can be improved.
Currently the teams are comprised of International teams and county / club teams. The county/club teams are often made up of a number of good riders (near Irish Team standard) and club riders whose performance is limited by training time and ability. the fact that some of the top Irish riders are not always available for the FBD Ras because of their trade team commitments can also be a factor in overall Irish performances and results.
If a decision was made to go provincial as well as retain the county system which has served the FBD ras so well over the years we could see four very good teams that will give a stronger challenge than the county teams currently do. It is could also be a stepping stone to Irish team selection for riders.
This would need to be well thought out and managed well to avoid or reduce conflict between club sponsors, managers who might miss out on their week on the Ras and the Provincial organisers.
With very focused prepartion for these riders, good improvements could be gained for next years event.
I believe there will be better opportunities for sponsorship as the sponsor should get more value for their money by being associated with a Province.and it would not be a huge amount of money required to support a team.
If provincial squads were well organised and given top class coaching and preparation it could be the difference between an Irish rider winning the 2007 FBD Ras or not.
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- Updated: Oct 3rd, 2007 - 16:54:37
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