Cycling Club Isle of Man has announced its team that will ride in the Cáirde Rás Tailteann in Ireland this week.

The Rás, which begins tomorrow (Wednesday) will be the debut race for the nascent team that will be taking a five-rider squad to compete in the five-day long event, which returns to the calendar after a four-year hiatus.

The Manx team will consist of James Harrison, Corrin Leeming, Niall Quiggin, Mark Horsthuis and Adam Kelly, a mixture of youth and experience featuring several riders who have previously raced in multi-day events across Europe.

Cycling Club Isle of Man will be going up against some tough competition in Ireland with strong local teams racing alongside international squads.

Their aim is to challenge for stage victories and get into a classification jersey, with each of the riders getting their opportunities to shine.

‘In the opening two stages of the race, I would like to see the team get into or close to one of the classification jerseys.

‘After that, we will see where we are in the general classification and go from there,’ says team manager Conor Davies.

‘In addition to that, I would like to see the team take a top-five finish in at least one stage. Racing in Ireland can be unpredictable so it makes sense to have multiple cards to play early on in the race.’