Four former winners and 17 foreign teams will be on the start line in Dunboyne, Co Meath at mid-day tomorrow for the 60th edition of the Rás, now sponsored by An Post.
An Post/Sean Kelly/Grant Thornton's Gediminas Bagdonas, the defending champion, comes to the event on the back of an excellent win in the prestigious Puivelde Koerse in Belgium during the week.
The Lithuanian will have the support of Ronan McLoughlin, Connor McConvey, Sean Downey and Sam Bennett.
Aside from Bagdonas, three other past Rás champions are on the start sheet; 2004 race winner, David McCann, is the second most recent Irish victor and, after recovering from a bad crash in the Tour of Korea, will lead the Taiwan RTS Racing team. Andrew Roche, 1997 champion, will compete on the Isle of Man Bikeline p/b Microgaming team, while 2009 winner Simon Richardson will be part of the British IG -- Sigma Sport squad.