Rás Tailteann

Rás Tailteann
Race details
Date Late May
Region Ireland
Nickname(s) The Rás
Discipline Road
Competition UCI Europe Tour 2.2
Type Stage race
Organiser Cycling Ireland
Race director Tony Campbell
History
First edition 1953 (1953)
Editions 62 (as of 2014)
First winner  Colm Christle (IRL)
Most wins  Sé O Hanlon (IRL) (4 wins)
Most recent  Clemens Fankhauser (AUT)
Zbigniew Głowaty, pictured after winning the 1963 Rás

Rás Tailteann (pronounced [ˈɾˠaːsˠ ˈt̪ˠalʲtʲənˠ], "Tailteann Race"), known for sponsorship reasons as the An Post Rás or the Rás for short, is an annual 8-day international cycling stage race, held in Ireland in May. Around Ireland, the race is referred to as The Rás. By naming the race Rás Tailteann the original organisers, members of the National Cycling Association (NCA), were associating the cycle race with the Tailteann Games an ancient Celtic sporting event in Ireland.

The event was founded by Joe Christle in 1953 [1] and was organised under the rules of the Republican-influenced organisation — the National Cycling Association (NCA). At that time competitive cycling in Ireland was deeply divided between three cycling organisations, the NCA, Cumann Rothaiochta na hÉireann (CRE) and the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation (NICF) due to the issue of nationalism and the division of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic. The NCA wished for a United Ireland and refused to recognise Northern Ireland or to confine their jurisdiction to the Republic of Ireland. The Rás Tailteann was the biggest race that the NCA organised each year.

As a result of a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) motion, the NCA was banned from international races and all teams affiliated with the UCI were banned from competing in races organised by the NCA. Therefore, only teams that were not affiliated with the UCI or who were willing to take the chance of serving a suspension for competing in the Rás Tailteann competed in the Rás Tailteann. During this time the NCA cyclists achieved prominence in the Rás with Gene Mangan, Sé O'Hanlon and Paddy Flanagan being several legends of the race. Mangan won only one Rás but featured in the race throughout the 1960s and early-1970s winning a total of 12 stages while O'Hanlon won the race four times and won 24 stages. Flanagan won the Rás three times and had 11 stage wins.

The NCA and the CRE together with NICF began unification talks in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result, a CRE team which included Pat McQuaid, Kieron McQuaid and Peter Doyle was able to enter the race in 1974. Doyle won the race and the McQuaids won two stages each. The first Rás open to the two associations CRE and the NICF was in 1979 and enabled Stephen Roche to compete the event as part of the Ireland team. Roche won the event.

The race has developed into a much sought after event by professional and amateur teams from many parts of the world. As part of the elite international calendar it is eligible to award qualifying points that are required for participation in Olympic Games and World Cycling Championships.

The first edition was held in 1953 as a two-day event but quickly developed into a week-long event. It has run every year since uninterrupted.

The official name of the race has been changed many times over the years, usually named after sponsors. An Post are the current title sponsors for three years starting with the 2011 edition.[2] The race is a UCI 2.2 event.

Past winners

No. Year GC Winner Nationality Team Points class KOM U23
1 1953 Colm Christle  Ireland Gate C.C.
2 1954 Joe O'Brien  Ireland National C.C.
3 1955 Gene Mangan  Ireland Kerry
4 1956 Paudie Fitzgerald  Ireland Kerry
5 1957 Frank Ward  Ireland Dublin
6 1958 Mick Murphy  Ireland Kerry
7 1959 Ben McKenna  Ireland Meath
8 1960 Paddy Flanagan  Ireland Kildare
9 1961[3] Tom Finn  Ireland Dublin Team S.Dillon Republic of Ireland
10 1962 Sé O'Hanlon  Ireland Dublin
11 1963 Zbigniew Głowaty  Poland
12 1964 Paddy Flanagan (2)  Ireland Kildare
13 1965 Sé O'Hanlon (2)  Ireland Dublin
14 1966 Sé O'Hanlon (3)  Ireland Dublin
15 1967 Sé O'Hanlon (4)  Ireland Dublin
16 1968 Milan Hrazdíra  Czechoslovakia
17 1969 Brian Connaughton  Ireland Meath
18 1970 Aleksandr Gusyatnikov  Soviet Union
19 1971 Colm Nulty  Ireland Meath
20 1972 John Mangan  Ireland Kerry
21 1973 Mike O'Donaghue  Ireland Carlow
22 1974 Peter Doyle  Ireland I.C.F.
23 1975 Paddy Flanagan (3)  Ireland Kildare
24 1976 Fons Steuten  Netherlands
25 1977 Yuri Lavyrushkin  Soviet Union
26 1978 Séamus Kennedy  Ireland Kerry
27 1979 Stephen Roche  Ireland Ireland
28 1980 Billy Kerr  Ireland Ireland
29 1981 Jamie McGahan  United Kingdom Scotland
30 1982 Dermot Gilleran  Ireland Ireland
31 1983 Philip Cassidy  Ireland Ireland
32 1984 Stephen Delaney  Ireland Dublin
33 1985 Nikolay Kosyakov  Soviet Union
34 1986 Stephen Spratt  Ireland Ireland
35 1987 Paul McCormack  Ireland Longford
36 1988 Paul McCormack (2)  Ireland Ireland
37 1989 Dainis Ozols  Soviet Union
38 1990 Ian Chivers  Ireland Ireland
39 1991 Kevin Kimmage  Ireland Meath
40 1992 Stephen Spratt (2)  Ireland Dublin
41 1993 Eamonn Byrne  Ireland Dublin Wheelers
42 1994 Declan Lonergan  Ireland Ireland
43 1995 Paul McQuaid  Ireland Ireland
44 1996 Tommy Evans  Ireland Armagh
45 1997 Andrew Roche  Ireland Kerry
46 1998 Ciarán Power  Ireland Team Ireland
47 1999 Philip Cassidy (2)  Ireland Team Ireland
48 2000 Julian Winn  United Kingdom Wales team David McCann Republic of Ireland David McCann Republic of Ireland
49 2001 Paul Manning  United Kingdom Great Britain team David KoppGermany Nicholas White South Africa
50 2002 Ciarán Power (2)  Ireland Team Ireland-Stena Line Chris Newton United Kingdom Julian Winn United Kingdom
51 2003 Chris Newton  United Kingdom Great Britain team Jonas Holmkvist Sweden Maxim Iglinskiy Kazakhstan
52 2004 David McCann  Ireland Ireland-Thornton's Recycling Team Malcolm Elliott United Kingdom Tobias Lergard Sweden
53 2005 Chris Newton (2)  United Kingdom Recycling.co.uk Malcolm Elliott United Kingdom Mark Lovatt United Kingdom
54 2006 Kristian House  United Kingdom Recycling.co.uk Morten Hegreberg Norway Ciarán Power Republic of Ireland
55 2007 Tony Martin  Germany Thüringer Energie Team Dominique Rollin Canada Ricardo Van der Velde Netherlands
56 2008 Stephen Gallagher  Ireland An Post–Sean Kelly Dean Downing United Kingdom Kit Gilham United Kingdom
57 2009[4] Simon Richardson  United Kingdom Rapha Condor recycling.co.uk Niko Eeckhout Belgium David O'Loughlin Republic of Ireland Mark McNally United Kingdom
58 2010 Alexander Wetterhall  Sweden Team Sprocket Pro John Degenkolb Germany Mark Cassidy Republic of Ireland Connor McConvey Republic of Ireland
59 2011 Gediminas Bagdonas  Lithuania An Post-Sean Kelly Shane Archbold New Zealand Oleksandr Sheydyk Ukraine Aaron Gate New Zealand
60 2012 Nicolas Baldo  France Atlas Personal-Jakroo Gediminas Bagdonas Lithuania David Clarke United Kingdom Richard Handley United Kingdom
61 2013 Marcin Białobłocki  Poland Team UK Youth Owain Doull United Kingdom Martin Hunal Czech Republic Simon Yates United Kingdom
62 2014 Clemens Fankhauser  Austria Tirol Cycling Team Patrick Bevin New Zealand Markus Eibegger Austria Alex Peters United Kingdom
63 2015 Lukas Pöstlberger [5]  Austria Tirol Cycling Team Aaron Gate New Zealand Aidis Kruopis Lithuania Ryan Mullen Republic of Ireland
64 2016 Clemens Fankhauser (2)  Austria Tirol Cycling Team Aaron Gate New Zealand Nikodemus Holler Germany Jai Hindley Australia

Bibliography

References

  1. http://www.independent.ie/sport/death-of-former-cycling-supremo-joe-christle-447034.html/news/art_4467.shtml "Death of former cycling supremo Joe Christle" Publisher: Irish Independent.com Accessed date: 2009-05-30
  2. http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_5255.shtml "AN POST TAKES OVER TITLE SPONSORSHIP OF RÁS " Publisher: Irish Cycling.com Accessed date: 2010-09-27
  3. "1961 Rás Tailteann results". fbdinsurances.com. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
  4. "2009 FBD Insurance Rás results". irishcycling.com. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  5. "Lukas Postlberger finally strikesit lucky in Ras". irishexaminer.com.
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