11.00: Good morning and welcome to today’s live updates from the FBD Insurance Rás. 142 riders have lined out in overcast conditions for the start of stage three of the race They have moved out of Loughrea and are currently racing along tight, twisting roads towards Athenry.
11.05: There are several riders on the attack but the bunch is in hot pursuit.
11.12: The field is all together.
11.15: Brian Kenneally will be wearing the blue stage winner’s jersey, having taken yesterday’s victory with a very strong attack in the closing kilometres.
11.25: Today’s stage is pretty flat, with just one categorised climb. The summit of the cat 3 Clogher More comes after 163.2 kilometres, roughly 8 km from the finish in Sligo.
Former world junior champion Mark Scanlon might be motivated to do something today, given that he comes from the town. Reports from within the Rás bunch suggest he’s some way off full fitness, but he did scoop fifth place in the bunch gallop on stage one.
Scanlon has not been racing this year but is hoping to rebuild fitness by taking part in the Rás.
11.28: A large group of riders are clear. There are approximately 22 away, with two chasers.
They have a lead of 16 seconds.
11.31: Three more riders have got across to the leading group but the gap is falling. They are just 12 seconds clear now.
11.36: There was a crash in the bunch, but we believe the riders are up and riding again.
11.37: The break is still clear; there are two riders at 27 seconds, one at 31 seconds and the main field at 39 seconds.
There are 21 leaders. We should have some ID soon.
11.44: The gap is 30 seconds.
The riders are David McCann (Ireland Subway), Martyn Irvine (Ireland Subway), Paídi O’Brien (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly), Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers NSW IS), Brendan Brooks (Australia FRF Couriers NSW IS), Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line/Recycling.co.uk), Tom Diggle (Britain Stena Line/Recycling.co.uk), Simon Holt (Britain Stena Line/Recycling.co.uk), Thomas Hruby (Czech Republic Sparta Praha), Michael Johansen (Denmark Vision Bikes), Mart Ojavee (Estonia Kalev Chocolate), Markku Ainsalu (Estonia Kalev Chocolate), Mark Walters (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada), Dominique Rollin (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada), Ben Raby (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada), Dominique Perras (USA Kelly Benefit Strategies), Justin Spinelli (USA Kelly Benefit Strategies), John Charlesworth (Team Sportscover), Conor Murphy (Dublin Usher Insulations), Eugene Moriarty (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC)
11.52: Having typed all that out, the field is now back together. Argghhh!!
11.57: Another group is trying to go clear. The riders are: David McCann and Paul Griffin (Ireland Subway), Jason Hegert (Australia FRF Couriers), Josef Soukup (Czech Republic Sparta Praha), Mark Walters (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada) and Eugene Moriarty (Meath MyHome.ie BDBC)
These have been brought back.
12.01: Moriarty has attacked again and is trying to get away alone. He gets 12 seconds.
12.03: The gap is now 8 seconds.
12.04: The riders have covered 43.5 kilometres in the first hour of racing.
12.08: Moriarty has been brought back.
12.14: There are now 21 riders 18 seconds clear.
Paul Griffin (Ireland Subway)
Yvo Kusters (Netherlands)
Mark Cassidy (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
Stephen Gallagher (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers NSW IS)
Chris Jory (Australia FRF Couriers NSW IS)
Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line/Recycling.co.uk)
Graham Briggs (Britain Stena Line/Recycling.co.uk)
Petr Pucelik (Czech Republic Sparta Praha)
Ondrej Pavek (Czech Republic Sparta Praha)
Josef Soukup (Czech Republic Sparta Praha)
Thomas Bendixen (Denmark Vision Bikes)
Tony Martin (Germany Thuringer Energie)
Josh Thornton (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada)
Jesse Anthony (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada)
Dan Bowman (USA Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Roger Aiken (Armagh Big Picture Developments)
Sean Lacey (Dublin Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group)
Neil Delahaye (Dublin Usher Insulations)
Nathan Jones (Kildare Newbridge Remax)
Rory Wyley (Tipperary Dan Morrissey)
The gap is now 24 seconds.
12.18: The gap is now up to 28 seconds.
12.23: There are eleven chasers, including David McCann (Ireland Subway)
12.26: The pressure is clearly on as there are several different groups; the break, the chase group, another chase group and the peloton.
The chasers are:
David McCann (Ireland Subway)
Alain Van der Velde (Netherlands)
Paídi O’Brien (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
Glenn Bak (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
Peter Herzig (Australia FRF Couriers NSW IE)
Mark Walters (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada)
Dominique Rollin (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada)
Ryan Roth (US Kelly Benefit Strategies)
Benjamin Hill (Germany Stevens Von Hacht)
Brian Ahern (Dublin Dundrum Town Centre Orwell)
Brian Kenneally (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC)
12.41: The field is split into several groups. The chasers mentioned above have been riding hard and gradually reducing the gap; the front group has now sat up and is waiting for the chasers.
The yellow jersey of Ricardo Van der Velde is further back. The main bunch is over a minute down.
12.45: We are passing through Ballyhaunis (76.3 km).
There is another chasing group at 29 seconds. The main field is over two minutes back now, with the yellow jersey there.
12.55: Details have been sketchy but that second chasing group also joining up, there are now 44 riders at the head of affairs. Wayne Randle (Team Sportscover) is chasing alone, but he is over a minute back. The yellow jersey is further back again. Jesse Anthony is now race leader on the road.
13.01: We have covered 88 kilometres, with two hours having elapsed. That’s an average speed of 44 km/h (we are good at our maths, us!) so pretty fast..
13.03: Petr Pucelik (Czech Republic Sparta Praha), Alo Jakin (Estonia Kalev Chocolate), Roger Aiken (Armagh Big Picture Developments) and Nathan Jones (Kildare Newbridge Remax) have attacked.
13.10: They have a 40 second lead over the rest of the front runners.
They have reached the feedzone (95 km).
13.18: The yellow jersey group is about 3’50 back..
The four leaders are 52 seconds clear, with 40 riders in the next group (many of whom were mentioned above).
Then the main bunch, which contains the yellow jersey, is almost four minutes down.
13.25: Petr Pucelik (Czech Republic Sparta Praha), Alo Jakin (Estonia Kalev Chocolate), Roger Aiken (Armagh Big Picture Developments) and Nathan Jones (Kildare Newbridge Remax) are a minute clear of the 40 man group.
The four leaders are doing over 50 kilometres per hour… There is a decent tailwind. We are currently travelling along the road to Tobercurry.
13.30: They are driving the pace. Aiken is at the front, head down. He won a stage in the race a couple of years ago, and is also a former national cyclo-cross champion.
13.32: The four leaders have 1’15 now…it’s going up..
13.45: The gap has gradually been dropping…it is down to 45 seconds.
The main bunch are gooooooooooooooooone…they are 4 minutes 55 seconds down now. Second placed Jesse Anthony (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada) and third-placed Brian Kenneally (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC) are in the 40 man group which is just over half a minute off the leading four riders. McCann and Griffin are there for the Ireland Subway team, with various other Irish and overseas competitors also still in contention for the stage win and a possible yellow jersey.
13.51: The gap is now 42 seconds. We have 44 kilometres to go. We would expect things to get more lively soon.
13.53: The four leaders are now 21 seconds ahead.
Thanks again to FBD Insurance for backing these live updates, and to Anto Moran of Ravens CRT for his tech support. Anto had a win on Sunday.
14.00: The four leaders are pulling away again – they are 35 seconds clear.
14.03: The gap is now 50 seconds.. the Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada team are at the front of the 40 man group and are being unassisted by the others.
The riders have covered approximately 137 kilometres. There’s 34 kilometres to go. The riders are actually approximately 17 kilometres from the finishing town, but the route veers away from Sligo again for a while before heading back in.
The four leaders have a minute…
14.08: Nathan Jones is with the Kildare Newbridge Remax team but he is actually Australian, rather than Irish.
14.17: The yellow jersey is in a group 8’40 down… The weird wacky ways of the Rás strike again. It’s a very unpredictable race.
Anthony will be hoping for a sprint finish, as he could be in yellow this evening.
The four leaders are now 46 seconds ahead. It’s unlikely they will stay clear as the other teams will start driving the pace soon; the chance of a sprint win is too much to resist.
14.19: It has remained dry all day. The weather forecast was evil earlier in the week but it has stayed fine.
14.23: The leaders have 40 seconds. They are inside 25 kilometres to go.
14.27: They are at the 20 kilometre to go point…
Jaikin was dropped from the lead group several kilometres ago, leaving three up front.
14.30: The leaders have 32 seconds.
14.38: They are still clear. The race commissaries are taking time gaps at the moment, using election posters as markers..
14.40: The gap is now up to one minute again! The leaders are either riding an absolute stormer, there is a lot of tactics being played out in the group behind, or it’s a combination of both.
They are at ten kilometres to go. They will soon hit the Clogher More climb, then have a rolling run-in to the finish. The landscape is absolutely stunning here.
14.46: The three leaders are going over the prime line. They are still thirty seconds clear. The run in is quite undulating which may make it tougher, but in their favour is the fact that the roads are twisting and turning and so this will help them hide from the chasing group.
14.51: We have gone on to the finish and are waiting for updates on the race radio...we think the leaders are still clear...stand by
14.53: The three leaders have indeed been caught..there is a 38 man front group racing in towards the finish...
Coming in now...McCann attacked but has been caught..
It's a sprint... Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada) gets it...
Paidi O'Brien (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M.Donnelly Sean Kelly) is second, with another Irishman third...Paul Griffin (Ireland Subway)
Good ride by O'Brien and Griffin,and hard luck to Aiken who made a great effort in a bid to take his second Ras stage win.
We think Jesse Anthony will be in yellow tonight, with Brian Kenneally second overall...
Roger Aiken said that they were caught over the top of the climb.. "With ten kilometres to go we had a minute and thought we might have a chance then, but it came back towards the end. I'll take a couple of days easy and then try again."
That completes our Live coverage for today..come back later for report, results and quotes... Thanks for reading!
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Here Live Reports were last updated:Aug 26th, 2008 - 13:50:32
