Muff cyclist Ronan McLaughlin has been given the chance to compete against seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
The Inishowen talent has been included in a seven-man An Post Sean Kelly squad for the upcoming Tour of Ireland.
McLaughlin, the youngest member of the team at 21, will use the Tour to gain further experience and is eagerly anticipating racing aga
inst Armstrong.
“I would be the most inexperienced on the team, so right up until the last minute I was not sure of my place,” McLaughlin, who was runner up in the U-23 category at the National Championships recently, said.
“The experience should do me the world of good and to compete against Lance is going to be amazing. The hype surrounding him coming over is something else.
“Hopefully all the build-up won’t affect me and I just want to concentrate on my own race and put in a performance that will demonstrate to the manager that I’m capable of performing at this level.”
The seven-man team has been confirmed by manager Kurt Bogaerts and includes three Irish riders Paidi O’Brien, Mark Cassidy and Ronan McLaughlin. This is the team’s first race on home soil since May’s FBD Insurance Rás, and Bogaerts admits that his team have it all to do if they
