10.00: Good morning and welcome to live coverage from day three of the Tour of Ireland, as brought to you by An Post. Today’s stage is lumpy, with two category two climbs and two category three climbs coming along the 201 kilometre distance. There are also three An Post intermediate sprints, in Westport, Louisburg and Oughterard.
10.14: There has been a very aggressive start to the stage, with numerous attacks.
10.16: A large number of riders have gone clear early in this stage – we’ll wait to see if this gets established before giving the names, as it’s a big group. Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton is there.
Magnus Backstedt (Garmin Chipotle) and Ciarán Power (Pezula Racing) have moved ahead of this group after some six kilometres of racing. They are passing through Cong, where David O’Loughlin is from. It’s his birthday today so he is doubly motivated to ride well.
The group behind has been caught by the peloton.
10.21: Former Paris-Roubaix winner Backstedt and Power have seven seconds lead.
10.23: David McCann (Ireland national team) and Gonzalo Rabunal (Karpin Galicia) have joined up but the peloton is right behind them.
It’s all back together, but the pace remains high.
10.27: More riders clip away, while Marco Pinotti (Team Columbia) punctures. The riders have covered 13.1 kilometres. Cassidy is once again one of those towards the front.
After fourteen kilometres of racing, the peloton is all together again.
10.30: More attacks, with Kenny Lisabett (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly), Thomas Berkhout (Rabobank), Kristian House (Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) and Cameron Jennings (Pezula Racing) going clear.
Gonzalo Rabunal (Karpin Galicia) bridges. This quintet is six seconds clear.
They have been caught by several others.
10.40: The situation remains very fluid. There have been numerous attacks. Two riders have gone clear before the start of the category two KOM at Finny (km 26). They have 55 seconds.
The leaders are Kieran Page (Pezula Racing) and Kurt Hovelijnck (Topsport Vlaanderen).
Bear with us: network coverage is poor in this area. We’ll post these updates as soon as possible.
10.44: They are now one minute ten seconds ahead.
10.46: Page led Hovelijnck over the top of the climb. It’s hard to figure out how the climb categories were decided, as this doesn’t seem as difficult as the category three Lower Sugar Loaf climb crossed on day one.
10.49: The two leaders have finished the descent. We’ve got the results of the climb:
Category 2 climb at Finny, km 26:
1, Kieran Page (Pezula Racing)
2, Kurt Hovelijnck (Topsport Vlaanderen)
3, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
4, Alex Surutkovych (Team Type 1)
5, Michael Barry (Team Columbia)
10.56: The gap is now two minutes 55 seconds.
11.09: The duo continue to ride well together, passing past Lough Mask. The gap is three minutes 29 seconds.
Columbia lead the peloton, but Mark Cavendish sits towards the back.
11.12: Page and Hovelijnck have covered 45 kilometres in the first hour of racing.
11.16: After 49 kilometres of racing, the gap is up to three minutes 40 seconds.
Cavendish has moved closer to the front of the peloton.
11.17: Page is the second Pezula rider off the front in two days. The team is out of cash and this may be its final race, so the riders are trying to show what they can do in the hope of getting a ride for next year.
11.20: The gap is now three minutes 55 seconds, so it continues to grow.
11.25: The gap has dropped for the first time; it’s now three minutes 45 seconds.
11.32: The weather remains dry, but it’s overcast.
11.41: The gap is four minutes as they head into Westport. The first An Post intermediate sprint of the day is here.
Hovelijnck gets it ahead of Page.
They are on a steep climb out of the town. This was used in the national road race championships two years ago.
11.44: We spoke to An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly manager Kurt Bogaerts yesterday. He said that the team were unlucky yesterday, with punctures, bike problems and falls. He is hoping that they have better luck today. “Ideally we’d like to get a stage win and a top five place overall. We’ll keep trying.”
11.47: Nine riders have clipped off the front of the peloton, and the injection of pace has caused the leaders’ advantage to drop to two minutes 50 seconds.
11.49: Those nine chasers have been recaptured.
Some results that have just been confirmed:
An Post intermediate sprint in Westport, km 66.9:
1, Kurt Hovelijnck (Topsport Vlaanderen)
2, Kieran Page (Pezula Racing)
3, Russell Downing (Pinarello CandiTV)
4, Juan van Heerden (MTN Energade)
11.56: The two leaders are in the feedzone, having covered 76.3 kilometres. The gap is three minutes 12 seconds, so it has gone up again.
12.00: The peloton has now reached the grub section. The gap is now three minutes 35 seconds.
12.12: The gap is three minutes 25 seconds. The leaders have covered 86 kilometres in the first two hours of racing, with 41 being covered in the past hour.
Page won the second An Post intermediate sprint of the day, in Louisburg (km 87.9).
12.16: The gap has dropped again; it’s two minutes 53 seconds.
Hovelijnck has stopped for a toilet break – we have no idea if he has stomach problems or if he’s just decided to head back to the bunch.
He’s now waiting for the bunch, so Page is ahead alone.
The results of the last sprint:
An Post intermediate sprint in Louisburg (km 87.9):
1, Kieran Page (Pezula Racing)
2, Kurt Hovelijnck (Topsport Vlaanderen)
3, Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia)
4, Bernhard Eisel (Team Columbia)
12.21: It’s dry here, but raining at the finish in Galway.
Page is three minutes ahead now.
12.30: Page plugs away alone, and continues to draw clear.
12.50: We’ve been out of phone contact so bear with us. Page’s gap has continues to grow – he is now five minutes five seconds clear, after 111 kilometres of racing.
The scenery here is stunning – we are passing by Killary Harbour, which is apparently the deepest natural harbour in Europe. Leenaun is here, the location for the film The Field, nominated for two Oscars.
12.55: There are some loose sheep (not talking morals, just location!) here. One of them ran out on the road in front of Page, but he avoided it. We hope the marshals can keep them away from the peloton.
The sun is coming out now.
13.07: Still no network coverage. Page has rounded the harbour and can see the bunch on the other side. He’s five minutes ten seconds clear now, the maximum so far.
He is now on the category three climb here.
13.19: It’s raining here now. We are still waiting to get back online, bear with us…
Here’s the results of the last climb:
Category 3 KOM at Leenáun:
1, Kieran Page (Pezula Racing)
2, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
3, David George (MTN Energade)
4, Alex Surutkovych (Team Type 1)
5, Fabio Calabria (Team Type 1)
13.24: Page has covered 128 kilometres, so there’s 73 left ahead of him. He’s still riding hard, although he’s showing good caution on the wet descents.
13.35: There is one chaser 45 seconds back – Juan Francisco Mouron (Karpin Galicia), then the peloton 1’20 back.
Mobile coverage is (finally) picking up again. It’s really been bad here in Connemara. They need to strap some transmitters to sheep or something…there’s certainly plenty of them.
Page looks jaded, shaking his legs and freewheeling on the descents. Mouron is nearly up to him. He’s closed up very quickly, and goes straight by.
13.38: The peloton is only 30 seconds back. Page will be caught very soon, and will almost certainly go right out the back. Brave effort, nonetheless. We imagine he was frustrated to lose his breakaway companion.
13.44: Mouron was caught a couple of kilometres ago. Daniel Lloyd (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) and Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) are clear and have 25 seconds.
13.48: The two leaders have 56 seconds and are 140 kilometres into the stage. That means there’s 61 clicks to go.
As Bogaerts said, a stage win for the An Post team would be huge. Still a long way to go, though..
13.55: The two leaders are very committed. Lloyd and Clarke are two strong riders, and are driving hard.
14.00: With 150 kilometres covered, the two leaders are two minutes 30 seconds ahead. They need to keep pulling clear to hold off the inevitable rush later.
Clarke swung across the road, and Lloyd had to really work not to hit his back wheel.
The results of the previous category three climb at Maumturk:
1, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
2, Alex Surutkovych (Team Type 1)
3, Filippo Savini (CSF Group Navigare)
4, Moises Adalpe (Team Type 1)
5, David Millar (Garmin Chipotle)
14.09: The gap is now 3’12 seconds over the Columbia-led peloton. Lloyd and Clarke are switching back and forward across the road, taking the shortest line and also avoiding the wind.
Cavendish is near the front of the peloton and will relish the thoughts of another sprint. The two leaders will do what they can to spoil his chances, though.
14.17: With 161.4 kilometres covered, the gap is two minutes 55 seconds.
The result of the final intermediate sprint of the day:
An Post sprint at Oughterard (km 156.4):
1, Daniel Lloyd (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
2, Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com/AIS)
3, Russell Downing (Pinarello CandiTV)
4, Malcolm Elliott (Pinarello CandiTV)
14.20: The gap continues to drop, falling to two minutes 40 seconds.
Last year Edvald Boasson Hagen jumped away close to the finish and took a fine win.
14.25: The leaders are on the final climb of the day, the category two ascent of Keeagh. The gap is two minutes 25 seconds. The climb tops out 30 kilometres from the finish.
Both leaders are out of the saddle, with Clarke pedalling a smaller gear. The road surface is quite rough.
Behind, many riders are in difficulty on the climb. So the pace is on in the bunch.
14.30: Clarke appeared to be the stronger on the climb, and led them over the top.
Crash! Lloyd went down. He appeared to slip on the descent and went straight down. He’s back on his bike and moving again, but Clarke is now far ahead. That was very unfortunate.
14.33: Adam Hansen (Columbia) also crashed, and so too several others. We are unsure if it is at that same point as Lloyd went down, but it may be.
If so, it was a straight section of road…there must have been something slippery on it.
14.34: Clarke is driving it hard. He’s riding well, but there’s a big, eager bunch behind him…
He pedals a low gear, and has a brisk style.
The final king of the mountains:
Category two climb of Keeagh, km 171.5:
1, Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com/AIS)
2, Daniel Lloyd (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
3, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
4, Kristian House (Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk)
5, David Millar (Garmin Chipotle H30)
There is a split in the peloton, with one group a minute back and the Cavendish group a further twelve seconds in arrears.
14.39: The two chasing groups have merged and is approximately 50 strong. All the main riders are there, we think.
14.42: The gap is now down to 39 seconds. He’s going to be caught.
14.54: Clarke was caught several kilometres ago and now another Australian, Cameron Jennings, has attacked. He’s with the Pezula Racing team.
He is being reeled in. It’s all together with 13 kilometres to go.
14.55: As was the case yesterday, Kristian House (Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) has attacked.
However he didn’t get far before being caught.
14.58: The peloton is all together, and has 10 kilometres to go.
Two riders are trying to get clear. We think they have been caught.
It looks like a bunch sprint is the most likely outcome. Can someone clip away? David Millar has been placed on the last two climbs, so perhaps he is feeling good and might give it a shot. We will see.
15.02: It’s all together with six kilometres to go.
Columbia have done a great job today; they are certainly the dominant riders in the bunch.
The peloton has six to go.
15.05: Three kilometres left….
Bunch gallop! Here we go...can he do it again?
He does! Three in a row for Cavendish, who had a great leadout from his team and delivered once again. Superb win...
A Tinkoff rider was also up there...bear with us, we'll get some more names..
Second place went to Bernardo Riccio of Tinkoff Credit Systems, with Julian Dean (Garmin Chipotle) and Alexander Kristoff (Joker Bianchi) next over the line. Ciaran Power (Pezula Racing) was best of the Irish in seventh - good ride.
That completes our live coverage for today - battery about to go! It was a long stage. Come back later for a report, results and photos. Thanks for reading!
