Cycling - National Road Series - Final Round - Friends First Laragh Classic 3rd September

The Cycling Ireland National Road Series closes with a thrilling double points race in the heart of Wicklow this Sunday.

After a challenging summer of action across the four provinces the race for the podiums in both men and women's races will be decided on Wicklow Gap in the Friends First Laragh Classic.

Strata3 Velo Revolution rider Mark Dowling leads the men's standings, taking that spot with an emptying win in the Gas Networks Ireland Nenagh Classic.

Dowling already has his name on etched on the Laragh Classic's Wicklow granite cobble, and will be relishing the introduction of the Laragh Classic to the route.

Garda CC's Eve McCrystal has been a thorough Champion throughout the women's series, winning all but three rounds and finishing no worse than second.

Away on international duty, the Rio 2016 medallist will miss Sunday's final round though, leaving the door open for Katharine Smyth - 80 points being on offer for first place.

With Ras na mBan, Ireland's premier international women's stage race beginning next Wednesday, Sunday's race is expected to be the biggest and strongest of the series so far.

A test for the riders, the race route up the mighty Wicklow Gap will be a spectacle for all, the Tour De France having taken that route back in 1998.

Races commence at 10.30am. Sign on will open at 8.30am in The Brockagh Resource Centre, Laragh, Co. Wicklow.