Tour of Ireland stage two, Clonmel - Killarney (196km)
O'Connell Street, Clonmel (10.00 am, START), Ardfinnan (10.21 am, AN POST SPRINT), The Vee (10.35 am, CATEGORY 2 CLIMB), Lismore (11.02 am), Fermoy (11.36 am), Castletownroche (11.57 am, AN POST SPRINT), Mallow (12.14pm), Drommahane (12.22 pm), Rylane (12.55 pm), Musheramore (1.05 pm, CATEGORY 2 CLIMB), Millstreet (1.20 pm, AN POST SPRINT), Curragh (1.29 pm, CATEGORY 1 CLIMB), Millstreet (1.38 pm), Ballydaly (1.47 pm), Barraduff (2.08 pm), Port Road Killarney (2.27 pm, FINISH)
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10.02: Good morning and welcome to the start of stage two of the Tour of Ireland. Today is, like yesterday, 196 kilometres in length, but it’s not on the same route; the riders will head from Clonmel to Killarney, heading over three climbs and passing three An Post bonus sprints.
The climbs are the category two ascents of The Vee, which comes just 19.6 kilometres after the start, the cat two Musheramore (km 135.2) and the big one, the category one Curragh. Very little is known about this climb, which comes 43 kilometres from the finish.
The An Post sprints will be in Ardfinnan (8.9km), Castletownroche (km 81.5km) and Millstreet (km 144.7).
10.14: Three kilometres after the start, two riders are trying to go clear. No names as yet.
10.16: They are Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) and Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank).
10.20: They have 53 seconds. An Post rider Cassidy is going for the An Post sprint. They are still a few kilometres away from that.
As was the case yesterday, there’s large numbers of spectators wearing green An Post t-shirts. It is a great sponsor for Irishcycling, with involvements in many different areas.
10.24: They are now 1km from that sprint…
10.29: At that line they were a full 3’25 ahead… No word yet on who got the gallop.
10.31: The mobile broadband coverage has been quite patchy, hence the delay.
The first sprint result:
An Post intermediate sprint, Ardfinnan (km 8.9)
1, Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
2, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
3, Martin Reimer (Cervélo Test Team)
4, Andrey Grivko (ISD – Neri)
10.38: The gap is now over six minutes…Van Winden is the leader on the road. He started the day 2’12 back, while Cassidy was 14’17” behind.
10.40: It’s now 6’26. We are at the start of the climb, with the two riders sharing the pacemaking.
10.46: They are on the Vee, which looks great in the bright sunshine. The weather has been super thus far during the race, with things improving a lot after recent bad weather.
The gap is 8’40! They are working very well together on this climb. It’s a steady one, with no particularly steep sections.
The crowds on the Vee are really impressive…loads of people at the hairpin. The climb folds back on itself there, so they can see down to the road below.
The skies are clear and while it’s not hot, it’s a really nice day. The TV images are going to look great later on…
11.07: The leaders crossed the top a couple of kilometres ago but no prime winner has been announced as yet. We are in a car behind the break but there are quite a few up here and our view is blocked…bear with us, results soon….
11.12: The descent is a little wet in places, so well hope everyone gets down without any problems.
The break was 10’30 ahead at the top of the climb. Still no results from the KOM, but we’ll have that soon.
Ah, here we go:
1, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
2, Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly Team)
3, Jay Thomson (MTN Cycling)
4, Philip Lavery (Irish National Team)
The fifth-placed rider was announced but radio coverage was very patchy. Anyway, good ride by 19 year old first year senior Lavery, who was very active yesterday. Thomson started the day one point behind Matt Wilson so he’s now in the jersey.
11.30: They two leaders are not 14 minutes 50 seconds ahead! That’s huge… That said, they have covered 52 kilometres thus far, so they still have 144 clicks to go.
11.45: With 60 kilometres covered, they have 14 minutes and 30 seconds. There are clusters of spectators out on the route, cheering them on. It’s great to see an Irish rider up here. Essentially, the An Post team’s best chance is today, as tomorrow’s finishing circuit is so tough.
Cassidy will hope that they stay clear, obviously, but if Columbia and Cavendish engineer a sprint, then Niko Eeckhout will try to snag a high placing. Well, of course he’d like to win, but it’s hard to see anyone other than Cavendish take a bunch gallop; he’s that dominant.
11.51: The coverage has been iffy after the climb but we should have a good broadband connection now.
11.56: Van Winden and Lavery have passed through Fermoy, 66km after the start. The crowds are massive there, with many of them wearing the An Post green. Great to see this level of support.
12.02: We have received confirmation of the climb results from the Vee. You might remember we were missing the fifth rider – it was Matt Wilson, the KOM leader.
Still sunny here. Incidentally, the leaders have just passed the home of Michael Flatley, the Lord of the Dance creator. No dancing spectators there, though.
12.15: The leaders are 13 minutes and 30 seconds ahead now and are 1km from the next An Post sprint in Castletownroche.
Race leader Russell Downing’s Candi Tv Marshall’s Pasta team, Cervélo and Saxo Bank are now leading the bunch.
12.20: They have gone through the sprint, again in front of huge crowds. We’ll have results soon, but the time check is 12’53 now. There’s 114 kilometres remaining in the stage, so the leading duo need to resist the chase. Generally a peloton can bring back a minute every ten kilometres; when there’s just two up front, it should be quicker than that.
12.40: Here’s the result of that gallop:
An Post sprint in Castletownroche, km 81.5:
1, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
2, Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
3, Philip Deignan (Cervélo Test Team)
4, Martin Reimer (Cervélo Test Team)
The leaders have gone through Mallow, 98.3 kilometres after the start, and are now in the feed zone. Cassidy and Van Winden will stock up, although they will be able to feed from the cars and won’t have to grab a musette.
12.49: The difference between break and bunch is 10’40. We’ve just passed Paídi O’Brien, the An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly, who was standing by the side of the road cheering on his team-mate. O’Brien was supposed to be riding the race but hasn’t recovered from a hand injury yet.
13.10: The gap is coming down, but only gradually. It’s 9’40 after 114 kilometres of racing, so we’ve got 82 kilometres remaining.
The second category climb of Musheramore starts 133 kilometres into the stage and is 2.2 kilometres long. After that is the final An Post sprint in Millstreet (km 144.7). Then just over six kilometres later they will race onto the first category Curragh mountain; that’s only two kilometres long, but must be very steep to have earned its ranking. Could be fireworks there…
13.20: Unfortunately no major developments to report as yet….we’ll keep you posted!
13.22: 8’30 is the latest gap…
13.37: It’s now 6’37, so it’s dropping quite rapidly now.
13.44: We are at the top of the climb, awaiting the leaders.. It’s very windy, but it should be largely behind them. Cold, too…
If the gap keeps falling, the leaders would well be caught on the first category climb…the GC contenders will ramp up the speed on that. Also, any non sprinters may need to make their move there as Columbia will do what they can to set Cavendish up for a win.
14.00: Van Winden dropped Cassidy on the climb and went over the summit about a minute ahead. He pushes onwards; Cassidy chases but it’s very unlikely he’ll get back on today.
The result at the top of the climb:
Category 2, Musheramore:
1, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
2, Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly Team)
3, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
4, Jay Thomson (MTN Cycling)
5, Shawn Milne (Team Type 1)
14.09: Van Winden had a two minute lead in Millstreet (km 144.7) over Cassidy. He is now 5’21 ahead of the peloton with just over 50 km left.
14.16: Niko Eeckhout (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) has retired from the race. Not sure what the reason is for that.
Van Winden is 2’25 ahead of Cassidy, with the peloton 4’10 back and closing. The leader is on the climb, but hasn’t yet reached the KOM sign. Bizarrely, these have not been at the bottom of the climb but quite close to the top.
We’ve got the results of that last An Post sprint in Millstreet:
1, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
2, Mark Cassidy (An Post Sean Kelly Team)
3, Andrey Grivko (ISD - Neri)
4, Jason McCartney (Team Saxo Bank)
14.23: Van Winden has just gone over the top of the category one Curragh climb; it’s really, really steep…savage. The main bunch is going to go to pieces.
Sean Downey has, we believe, abandoned the race. No idea why. Meanwhile, Cassidy has been caught by the peloton.
14.30: Van Winden looks good on a bike – very low and pedalling well. He’s 2’26 ahead with 35km remaining so it’s going to be hard for him to stay clear. He’ll give it everything, though.
Here’s the results of that climb:
Category one climb, Curragh:
1, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
2, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
3, Juan Van Heerden (MTN Cycling)
4, Jesús Hernández (Astana)
5, Jason McCartney (Team Saxo Bank)
6, Jose Luis Rubiera (Astana)
7, Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank)
8, Stuart O'Grady (Team Saxo Bank)
So Wilson is looking set to retain his KOM jersey this evening.
Unexpectedly, the peloton went over the top of the climb more or less together – that’s unusual, the pace must not have been too high. It was certainly very steep and could have shattered the group had the big guns gone for it.
14.52: With approximately 20 kilometres remaining, Van Winden is just 37 seconds ahead…Cavendish must be salivating at the thoughts of a gallop.
Good performance by the Rabobank rider, though…he’s been clear a long time.
14.59: The peloton is still all together…they are heading in towards a likely bunch finish in Killarney.
15.00: 45 km/h for the bunch right now.. The skies are overcast but should stay dry.
15.08: There are crosswinds and Astana are driving it.. getting close to 10km to go. Now Columbia take over.
15.13: Still all together…a sprint looks more and more likely. Astana are driving it once again, with five of them at the front.
15.15: Five kilometres left, and the peloton is moving at 70km/h on a downhill…Now the road goes up again. A sprint is evitable, methinks. 4km to go…
15.19: Two kilometres to go...some attacks but it's all together still...
Here we go....
Cavendish wins! That needs to be confirmed but we think he got it..
It’s been verified…Cavendish ahead of Michael Van Stayen (Rabobank), Stuart O’Grady (Saxo Bank) and the rest of the bunch.
Russell Downing finishes 17th and successfully defends his race lead.
Here’s the initial results from today’s stage:
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Stage two, Clonmel to Killarney:
1, Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia - HTC) 196km in 5 hours 7 mins 33 secs
2, Michael Van Staeyen (Rabobank)
3, Stuart O'Grady (Team Saxo Bank)
4, Alexander Kristoff (Joker Bianchi)
5, Steven Van Vooren (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly Team)
6, Martin Reimer (Cervélo Test Team)
7, Ian Wilkinson (Team Halfords)
8, Christoff Van Heerden (MTN Cycling)
9, Pierpaolo De Negri (ISD - Neri)
10, Juan Van Heerden (MTN Cycling)
11, Ramon Sinkeldam (Rabobank)
12, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team)
13, Antonio Cruz (BMC Racing Team)
14, Kenny Lisabeth (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly Team)
15, Sam Bennett (Irish National Team) all same time
General classification after stage two:
1, Russell Downing (Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta) 10 hours 18 mins
2, Alexander Kolobnev (Team Saxo Bank) at 5 secs
3, Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank) at 7 secs
4, Philip Deignan (Cervélo Test Team) at 10 secs
5, Marco Pinotti (Team Columbia - HTC) at 11 secs
6, Haimar Zubeldia (Astana)
7, Frederik Wilman (Joker Bianchi) both same time
8, Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank) at 17 secs
9, Stuart O'Grady (Team Saxo Bank) at 22 secs
10, Andrey Grivko (ISD - Neri) at 23 secs
11, Daniel Lloyd (Cervélo Test Team) at 25 secs
12, Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank) at 26 secs
13, Denys Kostyuk (ISD - Neri)
14, Lars Petter Nordhaug (Joker Bianchi)
15, Craig Lewis (Team Columbia - HTC) all same time
Under 25:
1, Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank)
2, Frederik Wilman (Joker Bianchi)
3, Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank)
Points:
1, Alexander Kristoff (Joker Bianchi) 18 pts
2, Russell Downing (Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta) 15
3, Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia - HTC) 15
4, Alexander Kolobnev (Team Saxo Bank) 14
5, Philip Deignan (Cervélo Test Team) 14
Mountains classification:
1, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1)
2, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank)
3, Jay Thomson (MTN Cycling)
4, Philip Lavery (Irish National Team)
5, Mark Cassidy (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly Team)
We’ll leave it there…come back later for a report and full results.. Thanks for reading!
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Here Live Reports were last updated:Feb 2nd, 2010 - 19:01:59
