NAVAN, Kells, Kells Category 3 KOM, Ballinlough, Slieve an Callaigh Category 3 KOM & Hot Spot Sprint, Oldcastle, (Virginia), Ballyjamesduff, Granard Hot Spot Prime, Ballinalee, Longford, Newtownforbes Hot Spot Prime, Rooskey, Dromod, Mohill, Fenagh, BALLINAMORE
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12.02: Good morning and welcome to live coverage from the 2008 FBD Insurance Ras, brought to you once again by FBD. It's a mild day here in Navan, with scattered clouds.
140 riders will start the 2.2-ranked race.
12.13: We are rolling out of Navan, with the official start of the racd due to take part shortly. The riders are in the neutralised second.
Details of today's stage:
Stage one begins with a ceremonial start in Navan at noon on Sunday May 18th, and takes the riders 142 kilometres to Ballinamore. The route passes through Kells and crosses a category three climb there after just 14.2 kilometres. The prime line is also the location of the first of three hot spot sprints, which will award bonus seconds and could well influence who takes the first yellow jersey of the race.
The second combined climb/hot spot sprint location comes 15.1 kilometres later at Slieve an gCallaigh, another category three ascent. From there the riders pass through Oldcastle, Ballyjamesduff (51.3km) and on to Granard (74.8km), Ballinalee, Longford (99.5km) and then travel via the N4 to the day’s final Hot Spot Sprint in Newtownforbes, which comes 38.6km from the finish line.
The speeds will be ramping up from here all the way to the finish, and there should be plenty of attacking heading along the roads which connect Rooskey, Dromod, Mohill, Fenagh and Ballinamore itself, the finish on this opening stage of the race.
12.13: The 2008 FBD Insurance Ras is now underway..
12.16: Ismael Kip (Netherlands) attacks, but is soon recaptured.
12.26: There have been a number of small attacks but nothing has stuck. Daniel Davies (Britain S of E Primera Sport) is the latest to try.
He gets six seconds.
12.28: He has been gobbled up by the peloton. Now Neill Delahaye (Dublin IRC Ushers) gives it a go.
12.30: He has ten seconds.
12.31: He has fifteen seconds heading into Kells. The first hot-spot sprint/king of the hills is here so Delahaye is looking good for that.
He takes the sprint, but is then caught by the bunch.
The results are:
Hot spot sprint/King of the Hills in Kells (14.2 km):
1, Neil Delahaye (Dublin Usher IRC)
2, Stephen Gallagher (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
3, Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest)
4, Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis)
12.38: Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven) has attacked and built an eight second lead.
12.41: He is now ten seconds clear.
12.45: He has been joined by David McCann (Ireland) and Stephen Gallagher (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly).
However the field recognises the danger of letting a past winner go clear and brings everything back together.
12.48: We are ahead of the bunch, driving up the day’s second KOH of Slieve an gCallaigh.
Bear with us – there’s no broadband connection in this area so we’ll post this as soon as we are back online.
12.51: A six man break has gone clear: The riders in it are Levi Heimans (Netherlands), Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Poland), Amir Zargari (Iran Islamic Azad Univer), Christer Rake (Norway Sparebanken Vest), Jean Marc Maurin (France Province Alpe Cote d’Azur) and Johannes Sickmuller (Germany Stevens von Hacht).
12.58: The break was brought back. The results of the second King of the Hills, taken at Slieve an gCallaigh (29.3 kilometres):
1, Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Poland)
2, Kieran Page (Ireland Pezula)
3, Christer Rake (Norway Sparebanken Vest)
4, Kristian House (Britain Team Stena Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk)
13.01: The weather continues to be mild – well, kinda. It is 15 degrees and bright.
13.05: A group of nine are clear of a similarly-sized group. These are in turn 20 seconds ahead of the mail bunch.
The breakaway riders are:
Miceal Concannon (Ireland), Wojciech Dybel (Poland), Dean Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk), Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven), Paídi O’Brien, Stephen Gallagher (both Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly), Kieran Page (Ireland Pezula Racing), Stian Remme (Norway Sparebanken Vest) and Nicolas Ligier (France Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur)
The main field is 35 seconds back.
13.12: The race is back together. There has been a big crash in the bunch but we have not heard of any serious injuries.
13.24: Two riders attacked just before Ballyjamesduff (which came 51.3 kilometres into the stage) and now have a ten seconds lead. They are Tim van der Zanden (Netherlands) and Eugene Moriarty (Meath/MyHome BDBC)
13.28: They are about to be joined by seven others. These are Rob Partridge (Britain Team Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk), Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven), Daniel Lloyd (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grand Thornton Sean Kelly), Derek Burke (Ireland Pezula Racing), Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest), Simon Kelly (Dublin IRC Ushers) and Sean Lacey (Dublin Eurocycles).
13.32: Van der Zanden and Moriarty remain clear, holding an eight second advantage. The peloton is at 44 seconds.
13.36: The two leaders have been caught, making it a nine-man leading group. The peloton is 29 seconds back. They have covered 64 kilometres.
13.44: The break is still away, holding a 35 second advantage. They have covered 69 kilometres of racing, meaning that they are almost at the halfway point of the stage.
13.48: The break is up to 50 seconds clear. There was a big crash in the bunch but all those involved are up and riding again.
13.52: Jean Marc Maurin (France Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur) attacked a couple of kilometres ago and is chasing alone. He’s 50 seconds behind the break, while the peloton is one minute ten seconds back.
Maurin and the rest of the squad are wearing the strip of the VC La Pomme team. However only one of the riders are from the French club, so the race organisers have required them to compete under the title of the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur name.
13.58: Maurin is stuck in no-man’s land, still 50 seconds back. Another chaser Barry Sutton (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth is 1 minute 13 seconds behind, with the main bunch at 1 minute 40 seconds.
14.01: The main field is now 2 minutes 15 seconds back.
14.14: Iran is leading the chase behind and the gap is falling; the nine leaders are now 1 minute 26 ahead. The riders have covered 92 kilometres in the first two hours of racing, averaging 46 km/h thanks to a slight tailwind.
Pezula and Ireland are now those chasing.
14.24: David McCann and the Pezula riders are driving things behind, trying to get this move back. The gap is down to 58 seconds.
14.33: The gap is hovering around the 50 seconds mark. Could a bunch sprint decide the opening stage of the FBD Insurance Rás?
14.42: It looks more likely now that will be the case; heading through Rooskey, with 28 kilometres left to go, the gap is 28 seconds.
We have got the results of the third and last hot spot sprint of the day. At the prime in Newtownforbes, Rob Partridge (Britain Team Stena Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) beat Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) and Daniel Lloyd (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly).
14.45: Shortly after the sprint, Tim van der Zanden (Netherlands), Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven) and Lloyd attacked and opened up a lead over the others.
14.53: The three leaders are 40 seconds clear with less than 20 kilometres to race. It looks like a bunch sprint is quite likely.
15.00: The gap is now 32 seconds….
15.03: Lloyd realises that the game is up and sits up, being caught by the peloton. The other two persist for now, but their time out front is surely limited.
15.07: Coming towards the ten kilometres to go banner, the gap is 27 seconds.
15.14: We understand it is all back together..stand by for more..
15.20: Inside the final kilometre, it is all together...bunch sprint....
15.21: Yes, a big group of perhaps 100 riders or more thunders down the main street...it's flat out all the way to the line, with Ken Hanson (Isle of Man Microgaming-Dolan) taking the win!
15.26: Bear with us..there is a slow mobile broadband signal here at the finish, which makes updating much slower than we would like.
Hanson won, with Patrick Kos (Netherlands) and the Belgian Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) taking second and third..
Great finish...very exciting to watch, and the loud, large crowd appreciated the sight of a big bunch gallop.
Scott McDonald (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth) was best Irish finisher in seventh, with Paidi O'Brien (An Post team) in tenth.
Hanson takes the first yellow jersey ahead of Kos and de Schrooder, while Neil Delahaye (Dublin Usher IRC) has the mountains jersey by virtue of his win in the first prime plus his final finiahing placing (he gets it on countback).
The provisional top ten are:
FBD Insurance Ras stage one, Navan to Ballinamore:
1, Ken Hanson (Isle of Man Microgaming – Dolan) 3 hours 6 mins 32 secs
2, Patrick Kos (Netherlands)
3, Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
4, Mateusz Komar (Poland)
5, Dean Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk)
6, Cameron Jennings (Pezula Racing)
7, Scott McDonald (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth)
8, Renaud Pioline (France Province Alpes Cote d’Azur)
9, Jean Marc Maurin (France Province Alpes Cote d’Azur)
10, Paídi O’Brien (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) all same time
That completes our coverage of stage one of the FBD Insurance Ras. Thanks for reading, come back in a while for a report and results!
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Here Live Reports were last updated:Aug 26th, 2008 - 13:50:32
