# Rás Tailteann

Rás Tailteann (pronounced; "Tailteann Race"), often shortened to the Rás, is an annual international cycling stage race, held in Ireland. Traditionally held in May, the race returned after a hiatus in 2022 as 5 day event held in June. By naming the race Rás Tailteann the original organisers, members of the National Cycling Association (NCA), were associating the cycle race with the Tailteann Games, a Gaelic festival in early medieval Ireland.
The event was founded by Joe Christle in 1953 and was organised under the rules of the National Cycling Association (NCA). At that time competitive cycling in Ireland was deeply divided between three cycling organisations, the NCA, Cumann Rothaiochta na hÉireann (CRÉ) and the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation (NICF). The Rás Tailteann was the biggest race that the NCA organised each year.
As a result of a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) motion, the NCA was banned from international races and all teams affiliated with the UCI were banned from competing in races organised by the NCA. Therefore, only teams that were not affiliated with the UCI or who were willing to take the chance of serving a suspension for competing in the Rás Tailteann competed in the Rás Tailteann. During this time the NCA cyclists achieved prominence in the Rás with Gene Mangan, Sé O'Hanlon and Paddy Flanagan being several legends of the race. Mangan won only one Rás but featured in the race throughout the 1960s and early-1970s winning a total of 12 stages while O'Hanlon won the race four times and won 24 stages. Flanagan won the Rás three times and had 11 stage wins.
The NCA and the CRÉ together with NICF began unification talks in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result, a CRÉ team which included Pat McQuaid, Kieron McQuaid, Peter Morton and Peter Doyle was able to enter the race in 1974. Doyle won the race and the McQuaids won two stages each. The first Rás open to the two associations CRÉ and the NICF was in 1979 and enabled Stephen Roche to compete the event as part of the Ireland team. Roche won the event.
The race developed into a much sought after event by professional and amateur teams from many parts of the world. As part of the elite international calendar it was eligible to award qualifying points that are required for participation in Olympic Games and the UCI Road World Championships.
The first edition was held in 1953 as a two-day event but quickly developed into a week-long event. It ran every year, uninterrupted, until 2018. Following Cumann Rás Tailteann's failure to find a new principal sponsor for the race, it was announced in February 2019 that there would be no Rás that year.
The race was a UCI 2.2 event.
The race returned in 2022.

## History

The official name of the race has been changed many times over the years, usually named after sponsors. An Post were the last title sponsors, although this sponsorship ended after the 2017 event.

### Race names

* 1953 to 1967: Rás Tailteann
* 1968 to 1972: You Are Better Off Saving Rás Tailteann
* 1973: Tayto Rás Tailteann
* 1974 to 1976: Discover Ireland Rás Tailteann
* 1977 to 1980: The Health Race Rás Tailteann
* 1981 to 1982: Tirolia Rás Tailteann
* 1983: Dairy Rás Tailteann
* 1984 to 2004: FBD Milk Rás
* 2005 to 2010: FBD Insurance Rás
* 2011 to 2017: An Post Rás
* 2018 to date: Rás Tailteann

### Past winners

| No. | Year | GC Winner | Nationality | Team | Points class | KOM | U23 |
| 1 | 1953 | Colm Christle | Ireland | James' Gate C.C. | | | |
| 2 | 1954 | Joe O'Brien | Ireland | National C.C. | | | |
| 3 | 1955 | Gene Mangan | Ireland | Kerry | | | |
| 4 | 1956 | Paudie Fitzgerald | Ireland | Kerry | | | |
| 5 | 1957 | Frank Ward | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 6 | 1958 | Mick Murphy | Ireland | Kerry | | | |
| 7 | 1959 | Ben McKenna | Ireland | Meath | | | |
| 8 | 1960 | Paddy Flanagan | Ireland | Kildare | | | |
| 9 | 1961 | Tom Finn | Ireland | Dublin Team | | Seán Dillon | |
| 10 | 1962 | Sé O'Hanlon | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 11 | 1963 | Zbigniew Głowaty | Poland | Poland | | | |
| 12 | 1964 | Paddy Flanagan (2) | Ireland | Kildare | | | |
| 13 | 1965 | Sé O'Hanlon (2) | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 14 | 1966 | Sé O'Hanlon (3) | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 15 | 1967 | Sé O'Hanlon (4) | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 16 | 1968 | Milan Hrazdíra | Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia | | | |
| 17 | 1969 | Brian Connaughton | Ireland | Meath | | | |
| 18 | 1970 | Aleksandr Gusyatnikov | Soviet Union | U.S.S.R. | | | |
| 19 | 1971 | Colm Nulty | Ireland | Meath | | | |
| 20 | 1972 | John Mangan | Ireland | Kerry | | | |
| 21 | 1973 | Mike O'Donaghue | Ireland | Carlow | | | |
| 22 | 1974 | Peter Doyle | Ireland | I.C.F. | | | |
| 23 | 1975 | Paddy Flanagan (3) | Ireland | Kildare | | | |
| 24 | 1976 | Fons Steuten | Netherlands | Netherlands | | | |
| 25 | 1977 | Yuri Lavrushkin | Soviet Union | U.S.S.R. | | | |
| 26 | 1978 | Séamus Kennedy | Ireland | Kerry | | | |
| 27 | 1979 | Stephen Roche | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 28 | 1980 | Billy Kerr | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 29 | 1981 | Jamie McGahan | United Kingdom | Scotland | | | |
| 30 | 1982 | Dermot Gilleran | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 31 | 1983 | Philip Cassidy | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 32 | 1984 | Stephen Delaney | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 33 | 1985 | Nikolay Kosyakov | Soviet Union | | | | |
| 34 | 1986 | Stephen Spratt | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 35 | 1987 | Paul McCormack | Ireland | Longford | | | |
| 36 | 1988 | Paul McCormack (2) | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 37 | 1989 | Dainis Ozols | Soviet Union | | | | |
| 38 | 1990 | Ian Chivers | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 39 | 1991 | Kevin Kimmage | Ireland | Meath | | | |
| 40 | 1992 | Stephen Spratt (2) | Ireland | Dublin | | | |
| 41 | 1993 | Éamonn Byrne | Ireland | Dublin Wheelers | | | |
| 42 | 1994 | Declan Lonergan | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 43 | 1995 | Paul McQuaid | Ireland | Ireland | | | |
| 44 | 1996 | Tommy Evans | Ireland | Armagh | | | |
| 45 | 1997 | Andrew Roche | Isle of Man | Kerry | | | |
| 46 | 1998 | Ciarán Power | Ireland | Team Ireland | | | |
| 47 | 1999 | Philip Cassidy (2) | Ireland | Team Ireland | | | |
| 48 | 2000 | Julian Winn | United Kingdom | Wales team | David McCann | David McCann | |
| 49 | 2001 | Paul Manning | United Kingdom | Great Britain team | David Kopp | Nicholas White | |
| 50 | 2002 | Ciarán Power (2) | Ireland | Team Ireland-Stena Line | Chris Newton | Julian Winn | |
| 51 | 2003 | Chris Newton | United Kingdom | Great Britain team | Jonas Holmkvist | Maxim Iglinsky | |
| 52 | 2004 | David McCann | Ireland | Ireland-Thornton's Recycling Team | Malcolm Elliott | Tobias Lergard | |
| 53 | 2005 | Chris Newton (2) | United Kingdom | Recycling.co.uk | Malcolm Elliott | Mark Lovatt | |
| 54 | 2006 | Kristian House | United Kingdom | Recycling.co.uk | Morten Hegreberg | Ciarán Power | |
| 55 | 2007 | Tony Martin | Germany | Thüringer Energie Team | Dominique Rollin | Ricardo Van der Velde | |
| 56 | 2008 | Stephen Gallagher | Ireland | An Post–Sean Kelly | Dean Downing | Kit Gilham | |
| 57 | 2009 | Simon Richardson | United Kingdom | Rapha Condor–recycling.co.uk | Niko Eeckhout | David O'Loughlin | Mark McNally |
| 58 | 2010 | Alexander Wetterhall | Sweden | Team Sprocket Pro | John Degenkolb | Mark Cassidy | Connor McConvey |
| 59 | 2011 | Gediminas Bagdonas | Lithuania | An Post–Sean Kelly | Shane Archbold | Oleksandr Sheydyk | Aaron Gate |
| 60 | 2012 | Nicolas Baldo | France | Atlas Personal–Jakroo | Gediminas Bagdonas | David Clarke | Richard Handley |
| 61 | 2013 | Marcin Białobłocki | Poland | Team UK Youth | Owain Doull | Martin Hunal | Simon Yates |
| 62 | 2014 | Clemens Fankhauser | Austria | Tirol Cycling Team | Patrick Bevin | Markus Eibegger | Alex Peters |
| 63 | 2015 | Lukas Pöstlberger | Austria | Tirol Cycling Team | Aaron Gate | Aidis Kruopis | Ryan Mullen |
| 64 | 2016 | Clemens Fankhauser (2) | Austria | Tirol Cycling Team | Aaron Gate | Nikodemus Holler | Jai Hindley |
| 65 | 2017 | James Gullen | United Kingdom | JLT–Condor | Daan Meijers | Przemysław Kasperkiewicz | Michael O'Loughlin |
| 66 | 2018 | Luuc Bugter | Netherlands | Delta Cycling Rotterdam | Luuc Bugter | Lukas Rüegg | Robbe Ghys |
| 67 | 2022 | Daire Feeley | Ireland | All Human–VeloRevolution | Rory Townsend | Dean Harvey | Louis Sutton |
| 68 | 2023 | Dillon Corkery | Ireland | Team Ireland (CC Étupes) | Matthew Fox | Conor McGoldrick | Aaron Wade |
| 69 | 2024 | Dom Jackson | United Kingdom | Foran CT | Tim Shoreman | Dean Harvey | Liam O'Brien |