Mark Scanlon

In a dramatic development over the weekend Cycling Ireland selectors secured the release of top Irish professional racing cyclist and Tour De France rider, Mark Scanlon, from his AG2R-Prévoyance team, to lead the Irish national team in the FBD Insurance RÁS which starts from Dublin in a little over four weeks time. Sligoman, Scanlon, is a class rider, winner of the World Junior Championship in 1998, Irish senior champion in 2002 and 2003 and a solid performance as a debutant in last year’s Tour De France, he will add tremendous power to an Irish team facing an unprecedented number of professional teams and top American teams in Ireland’s 8 day international cycling showpiece.

Cycling Ireland selector, Martin O’Loughlin,paid tribute to AG2R-Prévoyance for releasing Scanlon and said “we are absolutely delighted, it has been on the cards since a doubt arose whether AG2R-Prévoyance would get a wild card entry to the Tour, Mark is returning to his best form after injury and we are expecting a star performance from him in the FBD Insurance RÁS”.

The experienced Kerry rider, Paul Griffin, will be Scanlon’s right-hand man while the other three riders on the team, Brian Keane, Paudi O’Brien and Conor Murphy, are part of Irish cycling’s up and coming batch of young riders. The manager is former RÁS rider Cian Lynch.

Brian Keane

Paul Griffin