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CSF Group Navigare, SouthAustralia.com and Joker-Bianchi are all heading to the Emerald Isle for the start of the UCI 2.1 ranked Tour of Ireland next month.

CSF Group Navigare return to race in the 900km Tour of Ireland (27th to 31st August) sponsored by Fáilte Ireland. The Italian team is based on the Ceramiche Panaria outfit which participated in the inaugural race last year and this year’s entry boasts a young and talented team. Matteo Priamo has already tasted success this year when he won three stages in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey and more recently stage six of the Giro d’Italia. Argentinean Ruben Bongiorno is a devilish sprinter and will be seen battling it out with triple Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) and Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Chipotle) in the final 200m dash for the line in Ireland. Bongiorno has a good record in stage races including five stage victories and five second places in the Tour of Langkawi. 22-year-old Mauro Richeze is another top sprinter expected to be in contention for the An Post sponsored competition for sprinters. Richeze also rode in the Langkawi tour this year where he won the 9th stage. Paride Grillo has been a professional for four years and has won stages in the Volta a Portugal, Post Danmark Rundt and the Brixia Tour. Grillo made it on to the podium 27 times in his first three years of racing and his experience of riding the Giro d’Italia, Tour Down Under and the Tirreno Adriatico stage races will be invaluable to the team.

SouthAustralia.com/AIS has listed a strong team for the event which starts in Dublin on 27th August. The Australian team has already demonstrated its race winning talent this season. The young team dominated the Tour of Japan in May where Simon Clarke, Zakkari Dempster and Wesley Sulzberger each won stages and helped Cameron Meyer to win the overall classification. Meyer’s brother Travis will represent the family in Ireland and has already shown that he is just as capable of winning events. The 19-year-old from Perth won the Tours of Berlin and New Zealand this year and is a former junior triple world track cycling champion.

Joker-Bianchi will fly in from Norway hoping to repeat their 2007 success when Edvald Boasson-Hagen won stage four into Galway as part of Team Maxbo-Bianchi. Boasson Hagen was snapped up by Team Columbia this year but Joker-Bianchi are very excited about their new young prospects Ole Haavardsholm (3rd in the Junior European Road Championships 2008) and Ingar Stokstad (podium positions in the Junior Road World Cup). Alexander Kristoff, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Joachim Bohler and Frederik Willman will know what to expect from last year but the three new team members will only have heard stories about the tough climb of St Patrick’s Hill in Cork. Nordhaug finished third in the Norwegian road race championships at the end of last month. Bohler and Willman have both won stages in UCI ranked stage races this year. Kristoff has finished on the podium eight times this year in the Tours of Normandy and Bretagne and the Porec Trophy in Croatia.

With Team Columbia and Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 already confirmed for the five day race, race organizer Alan Rushton believes that race will be very exciting this year. “We have chosen a course that we believe provides a platform where victory could come from the climbers, roulers* or even the sprinters,” said Rushton: “Everyday will be different right from the start when the race leaves Dublin and heads into Wicklow on the way to Waterford. We might even see a race where the overall winner only emerges from the dramatic last stage when the peloton arrives in Cork on Sunday. There will be plenty of daily action with special competitions for the King of the Mountains and in the An Post green jersey competition for sprinters.”

The second Tour of Ireland runs over five days and will be contested by 16 international teams. The race starts in the Docklands area of Dublin on Wednesday 27th August when 112 riders head out on a route across 12 counties toward the final destination of the City of Cork. The route embraces key towns and cities as well as iconic mountain passes and splendid Irish scenery.

Stage 1: Dublin to Waterford, 192km - Wednesday 27th August

Stage 2: Thurles to Loughrea, 158km – Thursday 28th August

Stage 3: Ballinrobe – Galway, 201km – Friday 29th August

Stage 4: Limerick to Dingle, 186km – Saturday 30th August

Stage 5: Killarney to Cork, 155km - Sunday 31st August

* Rouler – A rider who can ride well on tough flat and rolling terrain.