2018 Rás

daragh_

Stage 1, Sunday May 20: Drogheda to Athlone, 136 kms:
Stage 2, Monday May 21: Athlone to Tipperary, 148.7 kms:
Stage 3, Tuesday May 22: Tipperary to Listowel, 140.4 kms:
Stage 4, Wednesday May 23: Listowel to Glengariff, 153 kms:
Stage 5, Thursday May 24: Glengarriff to Mitchelstown, 150.2 kms:
Stage 6, Friday May 25: Mitchelstown to Carlow, 154.6 kms:
Stage 7, Saturday May 26: Carlow to Naas, 141.2 kms:
Stage 8, Sunday May 27: Naas to Skerries, 144.6 kms:

Total: 1180.5 kms

Some brutal looking stages.

More here.

1bryan

still no sponsor, though I can't imagine one won't be found by May.

I guess whether they can invite foreign teams will depend on whether they get the sponsor on board? That's presuming the prize pot is more important to teams the the UCI points.

Though I am getting a little bit excited at the prospect of the race becoming predominantly a county team race. Now that would be great!

Bambaata

Pity it's not rolling out of Dublin Castle again but am happy to see stage one covers home turf for me

Plenty of climbing in some of those stages!!! Glad to finally see the route. It'll be interesting to see how much of an impact no title sponsor will have. Hopefully it's still well supported out on the road.

joey100

I hear you got on a team Bambaata, great news. Well done.

Bambaata

joey100 wrote: »

I hear you got on a team Bambaata, great news. Well done.

So long as the team gets accepted now!

Beasty

1bryan wrote: »

still no sponsor, though I can't imagine one won't be found by May.

Think they will have one, but will be very fortunate to find one prepared to devote anywhere near as much resource as An Post have been doing.

I know one of the big planks of the current CI's election campaign was he thought more money should be coming into cycling via sponsorship. I'm struggling to see who is prepared to invest the sums needed to run this and indeed the Ras na mBan at the levels they have been running them.

Just really glad they were able to get it up and running this year. Hopefully something can be done sponsorship wise into the future . I don't think Sean Kelly's team had any luck finding one either did they?

I like the fact it's starting here in town and finishing in Skerries, means myself and the wee one will have 2 chances to cheer them on. We had a great day out in Skerries last time.

DKmac

Beasty wrote: »

Think they will have one, but will be very fortunate to find one prepared to devote anywhere near as much resource as An Post have been doing.

I know one of the big planks of the current CI's election campaign was he thought more money should be coming into cycling via sponsorship. I'm struggling to see who is prepared to invest the sums needed to run this and indeed the Ras na mBan at the levels they have been running them.

Very hard to see a big independent sponsor come on board. The race sells itself on being an international stage race but predominantly the media focus is on the county rider and their stories so that goes against attracting a larger & possibly even an international sponsor. Also the presence of county riders prevents the race from moving up the UCI rankings which could potentially put off bigger sponsors from getting in at a lower level and staying long term to see the event grow.

The county riders bring great interest to the race and are essentially the spirit of the race but I think it will struggle to attract as big support as An Post provided when they are competing.

1bryan

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think Sean Kelly's team had any luck finding one either did they?

I thought they did have one but couldn't get everything arranged in time for next season. Thus they had to take a season out and reconvene the year after.

thekooman

Stage 4... Glengarriff... wasnt that where 27 lads didnt make the time limit a few years back? looks horrific.

TheBlaaMan

For Stages 4-8 it looks like the exact same route as 2013. Will definitely get out to one or two of the stages nearer home

daragh_

Really looking forward to seeing the lads from my club do this again this year. And the icing on the cake will be watching them come over the Shay and the Wicklow Gap. Start picking your spots now - there will be big crowds #COYBIP

Kaisr Sose

Beasty wrote: »

Think they will have one, but will be very fortunate to find one prepared to devote anywhere near as much resource as An Post have been doing.

Very true. I know that behind the scenes, An Post did a lot of work that nobody saw. An incredible amount of work before the route launch, between that and the first stage and during the race itself. It will be hard to top it.

CrowdedHouse

Rás road book now available

http://rasireland.ie/race-technical-guide/

Amprodude

Some A2 riders dox

Amprodude

Some A2 riders do the ras. It must be hard for majority of them who are 2-3 levels off some of the pro teams.

CrowdedHouse

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Rás road book now available

http://rasireland.ie/race-technical-guide/

Best get my wee one studying this, she was a disaster in the kids race they had in Skerries last year, team car mammy had to intervene and give her a sticky bottle most of the way :pac:

What a great day out that was, we'll be heading for the finish again this year for sure.

buffalo

Best of luck to all the riders and race staff starting today. Some good coverage around the place:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/rs-set-to-remember-race-legend-36923161.html

http://www.the42.ie/ras-2018-mark-dowling-unpredictable-mental-4016734-May2018/

https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/happy-hennebry-has-put-the-balance-back-into-racing-36926614.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeKO10hK_-E

dahat

One rider needing assistance already!

dahat

dahat wrote: »

One rider needing assistance already!

Front puncture not even 1km from the off, best get the bad luck out of the way early and empty the bladder 3 or 4 more joined that Swiss rider for a wee break on the left.

buffalo

Any truth to the rumours that Nicolas Roche quit the Giro to ride the Rás?

Kaisr Sose

Great that the race organisers got another co-sponsor on board.

R.dufy454773

Is there any coverage\ live stream of this does anyone know ?

Raam

No Shane Stokes updates this year?
Nothing here anyway: https://anpostraswithshanestokes.wordpress.com/

dahat

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Front puncture not even 1km from the off, best get the bad luck out of the way early and empty the bladder 3 or 4 more joined that Swiss rider for a wee break on the left.

Indeed, best place for it to happen then.

buffalo

Raam wrote: »

No Shane Stokes updates this year?
Nothing here anyway: https://anpostraswithshanestokes.wordpress.com/

https://twitter.com/rastailteann

Raam

buffalo wrote: »

https://twitter.com/rastailteann

Thanks, pity they start with the last one first.

CrowdedHouse

Full Stage 1 Results

Boscoirl

Do they post estimated times for certain parts of the stage as to when they’ll Pass?

It’s passing by Nenagh tomorrow and want to skive off work to watch it pass

Eamonnator

Boscoirl wrote: »

Do they post estimated times for certain parts of the stage as to when they’ll Pass?

It’s passing by Nenagh tomorrow and want to skive off work to watch it pass

You'll get race time estimates in the regulations:

http://rasireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Race-Tailteann-2018-Technical-Guide.pdf

CrowdedHouse

Estimated time for Nenagh is from 1235 to 1323

Boscoirl

Merci, now have to try arrange my day around that

R.dufy454773

Estimated times here :
http://www.rastailteann.com/uploads/race-tailteann-2018-technical-guide.pdf

Edit; didn’t see previous post , apologies

Not my video , came across doing a search. Gas seeing this from above as I have multiple routes from here I take on spins and normally it's a case of do I stop at the shop for a fanta, go right or go left, then which road next. Normally I keep left then right to red mountain (Not a actually a mountain) and Duleek and back in. Oh and I don't think I ever came close to carrying that kind of speed through there I'm sure some others here would ride through here regularly too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t2OdFe3TOw

CrowdedHouse

I was in Riverstown this morning (a little village on the Tipp/Offaly border) to watch the Rás Tailteann pass. A couple of years ago in the same place there was loads of children down from the local school to cheer it on. But today I suppose due to the torrents of rain, there was me, an elderly lady at her front door and a Guard minding a junction watching it. Feckin rain - too wet to bring my camera.

There was one group of riders, I'm not sure if they were even in the race, but it was a good 10 mins after the broom wagon passed. They in for a long day as only 40 odd Km was gone at that point.

CrowdedHouse

Full Stage 2 Results

Boscoirl

Ended working away today, but managed to get to the finish in tipp town

Poor weather but a bit of buzz around the town,

Large bunch finish and he won well.

They guy that finished the stage last was tucked in behind the broom wagon for the last few K

Caught the finish on the Six One news there, great win.

CrowdedHouse

Couple of snaps from Caherconlish Co.Limerick this morning.

CrowdedHouse

Might as well keep the results going too

Stage 3

1bryan

Are average speeds down? There's certainly no sense that county riders are struggling to make the time cut this year, as has happened in recent years. Maybe that'll all change once they hit the hills.

jimbobaloobob

1bryan wrote: »

Are average speeds down? There's certainly no sense that county riders are struggling to make the time cut this year, as has happened in recent years. Maybe that'll all change once they hit the hills.

If your looking at yesterday's results it would reflect fine weather and a flat stage. Day previous there were gaps of up to 30mins. Avg speed for first hour was 47kph that's on par with most stages.

JimmiesRustled

1bryan wrote: »

Are average speeds down? There's certainly no sense that county riders are struggling to make the time cut this year, as has happened in recent years. Maybe that'll all change once they hit the hills.

Real test starts today for the county riders. Same stage as more or less as a couple years back when 23 riders were eliminated for being outside the time cut.

I say more or less as it's a little shorter than it was before.

greenspurs

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

If your looking at yesterday's results it would reflect fine weather and a flat stage. Day previous there were gaps of up to 30mins. Avg speed for first hour was 47kph that's on par with most stages.

47 ! jaysus , that is savage ... :eek:

1bryan

Killarney's instagram feed (killarneyrasteam) is hilarious. Especially the stories!

Eamonnator

1bryan wrote: »

Are average speeds down? There's certainly no sense that county riders are struggling to make the time cut this year, as has happened in recent years. Maybe that'll all change once they hit the hills.

The average speed for the 3 stages so far is 45.82kph.

thekooman

he is a gas man Seanie
“One of the Jellybean riders (Curtis White) just winked at me,” he explained of getting the ‘come up the road’ eyes.
http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/sean-omalley-ras-breakaway-stage-3/

Lewotsil

Likely to be loads of splits today and early ........ will need some co-ordination, gruppetto style

CrowdedHouse

No one cut surprisingly, must be the good weather, although I see Paidi O'Brien cut it fine - must be sick/injured as he would usually be at the top end of affairs.


Stage 4

jimbobaloobob

1bryan wrote: »

Are average speeds down? There's certainly no sense that county riders are struggling to make the time cut this year, as has happened in recent years. Maybe that'll all change once they hit the hills.

1bryan if your into the stats all results for the last 8-9 years are on the Ras tailteann page if you want to compare averages.