New for September: Gerard Cromwell's Rider's Profiles <See Them Here>

SYDNEY 2000 Irish Olympic Cycling Team <See details Here> - <Read full report by Shane Stokes - Click Here>

TOUR OF HOKKAIDO, JAPAN: (By Shane Stokes) Mark Scanlon extended his winning sequence to six victories in a row yesterday when he  took the opening stage of the Tour of Hokkaido in Japan.  Scanlon, who is building towards the world under 23 championships in France next month, broke free with three other riders early in the stage but was caught by the main bunch. The aggressive 19 year old then made a lone attack in the final ten kilometres, was hauled back and yet still had the strength to win the bunch sprint.
Of the other Irish, Eugene Moriarty was fourth in the surge for the line, Tommy Evans 19th, Paddy Moriarty 47th and David O'Loughlin 48th. By virtue of his win, Scanlon wears the leaders jersey going into today's second stage. The world-ranked race finishes next Wednesday.
Stage 2: After winning the opening stage of the Tour of Hokkaido in Japan, Irish cyclist Mark Scanlon slipped out of the race leaders jersey in today's leg. Scanlon lost contact with the lead group on a 10km climb and conceded over 6 and a half minutes by stage end. However, his disappointment will be tempered by the fact that he continues to lead the points competition. Another of the Irish quintet, David O'Loughlin, is second overall in the mountains classification. The race continues with a 3km time trial and a 60km criterium in Takikawa. Results - 1, Ken Hoshikawa (Japan); Irish: 30, Patrick Moriarty at 34 secs;46 David O'Loughlin at 4 mins 11 secs; 70, Eugene Moriarty at 6 mins 38 secs; 78 Thomas Evans; 80, Mark Scanlon, both same time
Stage 3: 1, Eric Wohlberg (Canada) 3km TT in 4 mins; Irish: 12, Evans @ 13.97 secs; 19, P. Moriarty @ 15.79 secs; 27, O'Loughlin @ 17.57 secs; 33, Scanlon @ 17.79 secs; 60, E. Moriarty @ 26.69 secs
Stage 4: 1, Jacob Erker (Canada) 60 kilometres in 1 hour 29 mins 22 secs; Irish: 2, Evans @ same time; 22, O'Loughlin @ 18 secs; 30, Scanlon; 36 P. Moriarty both same time
Stage 5: 1, Valeriy Titov (Kazakstan) 146 km in 3 hours 39 mins 16 secs; Irish: 3, P. Moriarty @ 3 secs; 7, Evans @ 8 secs; 13, O'Loughlin same time; 52, Scanlon @ 7 mins 02 secs; 77, E. Moriarty @ 14 mins 26 secs Overall: 1, Eric Wohlberg (Canada) 13 hours 44 mins 12 secs; Irish: 6, P. Moriarty @ 46 secs; 22, O'Loughlin @ 4 mins 33 secs; 23, Evans @ 6 mins 22 secs; 39, Scanlon @ 13 mins 52 secs; 54, E. Moriarty @ 26 mins 16 secs

TOUR OF HOKKAIDO, JAPAN: EVANS THIRD ON FINAL STAGE, MORIARTY 4TH OVERALL, SCANLON WINS POINTS CLASSIFICATION:  (By Shane Stokes Sept 20) Following Mark Scanlon's two stage wins earlier this week, the Irish finished off the Tour of Hokkaido in style today when Tommy Evans took third on the seventh stage and Paddy Moriarty finished an excellent fourth overall in the world-ranked race.  Scanlon and Evans also took first and second respectively in the points classification, marking one of the best displays in years by an Irish team.  The performance is an encouraging one for Scanlon and team-mate David O'Loughlin, who next week begin a guest slot for the Linda McCartney professional outfit and will then dispute the world under 23 championships in France on October 13th. 
Stage 7: 1, Matthew Yates (New Zealand) 60 km in 1 hour 19 mins 10 secs; Irish: 3, Evans; 11, O'Loughlin; 20, P. Moriarty all same time; 38, Scanlon at 17 secs; 59, E. Moriarty at 3 mins 23 secs  Final Overall: 1, Eric Wohlberg (Canada) 19 hours 40 mins 57 secs; Irish: 4, P. Moriarty at 49 secs; 22, O'Loughlin @ 4 mins 39 secs; 23, Evans @ 6 mins 18 secs; 35, Scanlon @ 13 mins 59 secs; 58, E. Moriarty @ 38 mins 15 secs Points: 1, Scanlon; 2, Evans.

Munster RR champs: Senior: 1, Martin O'Loughlin (Cidona Carrick); 2, V. Gleeson (West Clare CC); 3, J. Horgan (Unattached) U-11 G Pike (Clonmel); U-12: J O'Sullivan (Killorglin CUCC); U-13: C Lanigan (Killorglin CUCC); U-14: S O'Halloran (Dunshallows Safari); U-15: B Woods (Killorglin CUCC); U-16: M Concannon (Killorglin CUCC

ALL IRELAND 25 MILE TIME TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Results - Seniors 1 Paul Healion Usher IRC 54'09" 2 Ryan Patton Pheonix CC 56'13" 3 Shane Pendergast Usher IRC 56'58" 4 Paul Doyle UnAtt 57'41" 5 Jonathan Dempsey Clarke Contr. 57'51" 6 Tom Hughes Stamullen 58'33".  Team Usher IRC ( Healion, Pendergast, Flood)  Juniors 1 Ollie Gray Cycleways 58'44" 2 Brian Patton Clarke Cont. 59'40" 3 Tim Aherne Bray Whl 1:00'24"  Vets 1 John Cole Pheonix 59'23" 2 Russell Moreland Northern CC 1:00'00" 3 Martin Birney Maryland Whl 1:00'21" Team Pheonix CC ( Cole, McCarton, McCann)  Lady 1 Sheila Rafferty Pheonix CC 1:07'58" 2 Maria O'Reilly Bohermeen 1:08'05"

THE GREEN MACHINE By Gerard Cromwell (Sept 12) There was a time when talented young Irish cyclists were steered clear of the many British professional teams of the era. These squads were perceived by many as professional in name only and to be lacking in discipline, organisation and in some cases even wages! <MORE>

 Some new faces in the guess the cyclists <See Them Here>

O'LOUGHLIN SECOND IN TOUR OF THE PEAKS, GETS PRO TRIAL: (Shane Stokes Sept 10) Ireland team riders David O'Loughlin and Brian Kenneally both received boosts to their end-of season aspirations yesterday when they were second and third respectively in the world-ranked Tour of the Peaks in Derbyshire.  22 year old O'Loughlin, who this weekend was offered a trial with the professional Linda McCartney squad, went clear with eventual winner Mark Lovatt 20 miles into the hilly race and eventually finished one minute and 34 seconds in arrears. Kenneally - who also guests with the burgeoning outfit later this month - jumped clear of a nine man chasing group to finish a further one minute and 16 seconds behind.  TOUR OF THE PEAKS Results - 1, Mark Lovatt (Provision) 3 hours 39 mins 35 secs; 2, D. O'Loughlin (IRELAND) at 1 min 34 secs; 3, B. Kenneally (IRELAND) at 2 mins 50 secs; 4, C. Hughes (Australia)at 3 mins 8 secs; 5, J. Tanner (Provision); 6, M. Forde (Australia) both same time.

COLLINS - CHRISTLE MEM IN KILMESSAN: Results - 1, Mark Scanlon (CC Etupes); 2, E. O'Donoghue (Killarney CC); 3, J. McCarthy (Killarney CC); 4, T. Hughes (Stamullen); 5, J. Horgan (Stamullen); 6, A. McCormack (Unattached)  1st Jun: Mark Quigley (Mayo Wheelers); 1st Veteran: Tosh Lavery (Garda Motorworld); 1st Lady: Lorraine Manning (Usher IRC)

BEECHMOUNT CUP IN NAVAN: Results - 1, Mark Scanlon (CC Etupes); 2, P. Griffen (Dan Morrissey); 3, A. McCormack (unattached); 4, G. Swinard (unattached); 5, A. Hedderman (Cidona Carrick); 6, V. Gleeson (West Clare) 1st B: John Leonard (Navan Avonmore); 1st Jun: Colin Armstrong (E.C. Rance-Frémur); 1st Lady: Marie O' Reilly (Bohermeen)

DUFF WINS IN FRANCE: (By Gerard Cromwell) Irishman Aiden Duff took the third stage of the Deux Jours De Machcoul in the Pays de Loire, France on Sunday. Duff riding for the Nantes 44 team outsprinted British rider Johnathan Dayus of Pays Des Olonnes and Arnaud Morice of US St-Herblain to win the 166km stage in a time of 3hrs42'38".

Irish Youth Team in Manchester <See Pictures Here>

IRISH NEWS BELFAST - DUBLIN - BELFAST 50TH ANNIVERSARY RACE: (By Jim Trainer Sept 3) In one of his last major races in Ireland before he leaves to take up a professional career with the Linda McCartney Foods team, Sligo’s Mark Scanlon, the ‘98 World Junior Champion, stamped his authority on the Irish News 50th Anniversary Belfast Dublin - Belfast winning both stages and the overall classification.

In a comparison with the first running of the event, 50 years ago, Scanlon’s time for the first stage was 3 hours and 39 minutes, while Karl McCarthy took 4.47.  The overall time of 7.19 was about 2 and a quarter hours faster. However in those days road racing was a virtually a new sport and the original field of 12 who battled against the wind and rain to Dublin, were more used to riding short distances races on grass tracks.  This time the race was run off in perfect weather, with a strong tail wind on the opening stage and a virtually windless run on the return. On the opening stage after various breakaway attempts had come to nothing, several small groups went off the front after Newry with a break of 18 forming with soon sped away from the bunch.

The start of the original Belfast to Dublin

The group split twice before the finish and for the final ten miles Scanlon and David O’Loughlin (Ireland), Brian Kenneally (Munster), and Belfast David McCann (Phoenix), just home from a successful season in France and off on Monday morning to ride in the Olympic Road Race. (With a 6.30 flight this morning he decided not to start the second stage).  With three miles to go Scanlon attacked and was quickly joined by Kenneally and the two quickly went 30 seconds ahead with Scanlon getting the verdict in the sprint.

It was a troubled ride on the way back for the race leader for after winning the first KOM at Slane he had bike problems and was out the back by several minutes and only rejoined the race after a chase of 40 miles. The second KOH at Collon went to David O’Loughlin who was off the front with Eugene Moriarty (Munster) and they were joined by six other and this break got nearly a minute but they too were brought back. Brian Lennon (Leinster) took the prime at Dundalk but by the next prime at Newry Scanlon had rejoined the bunch which was all together as he won the sprint.  Into the last 20 miles and it was again Scanlon and Kenneally who got clear and set about building up a big lead which had grown to over 2 minutes by the finish at Stranmillis Embankment where the Sligoman was the stronger, winning by two seconds.

Tommy Evans (Clarkes Contracts Nissan), who had been injured on Saturday by an apple thrown from a passing car, won the sprint for third place ahead of Paddy Moriarty (Ireland) and Shane Baker (Leinster). Emphasising his domination of the weekend, Scanlon also won the points and mountains classification and took away over £300 in prize money plus an Eircell phone and calls which he won in the prime at Dundalk.  

Stage 1, 103m. Belfast - Dublin: 1, Mark Scanlon (Ireland) 3.39.25; 2, B. Kenneally (Munster) s.t.; 3, D. O’Loughlin (Ireland) at 48 secs; 4, D. McCann (Phoenix CC) s.t.; 5, S. Prendergast (Leinster) at 4.42; 6, P. Healion (Leinster); 7, M. O’Loughlin (Munster); 8, B. Lennon (Leinster) all same time; 9, P. Moriarty (Ireland) at 6.00; 10, J. Dempsey (Clarke Contracts) at 10.17. 

Stage 2, Dublin - Belfast, 103m.: 1, M. Scanlon (Ireland) 3.40.43; 2, B. Kenneally (Munster) at 2 secs; 3, T. Evans (Clarkes Contracts Nissan) at 2.27; 4, P. Moriarty (Dublin); 5, S. Baker (Leinster) s.t.; 6, F. McCormack (Kildare) at 2.37; 7, B. Lennon (Leinster); 8, P. Madden (Cahills Naas); 9, D. O’Loughlin (Ireland); 10, P. Finnegan (Cahills Naas), all same time.

General Classification: 1, Mark Scanlon 7.19.49; 2, B. Kenneally at 4 secs; 3, D. O’Loughlin at 3.35; 4, B. Lennon at 7.32; 5, P. Healion at 7.34; 6, M. O’Loughlin at 7.35; 7, P. Moriarty at 8.38; 8, J. Dempsey at 13.13; 9, S. Baker at 13.56; 10, P. Finnegan at 14.11. Second Cat.: 1, J. Horgan (unatt.); 2, C Brown (Ulster); 3, P. Madden (Cahills Naas). KOH: 1, M. Scanlon 10; 2, D. O’Loughlin 6; 3, S. O’Sullivan 3.