CYCLING NEWS:ONLY TWO out of the eight stages have been completed, but it already looks like game over for most of the overall contenders in this year's FBD Rás.
On a grim, windy, rain-lashed stage from Wexford to Cobh, British riders Ian Wilkinson (Halfords Bike Hut) and Simon Richardson (Rapha Condor) proved strongest, using an early, eight-man break to open what proved to be a decisive advantage over the field.
By the time Wilkinson dropped Richardson on the climb up to the finish line in Cobh to take the stage win and yellow jersey in his first Rás, the rest of the peloton were a long, long way back. Mads Christensen (Denmark Designa Kokken) finished three minutes and three seconds back in third place, while all of those outside the top-10 placings had lost at least seven minutes.
This list of the conquered includes the best Irish contender, David O’Loughlin (An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly), who had been with the first three until 30 kilometres to go but then cracked. He held on to finish 11th but, like the rest of the field, has a huge amount of work to do over the days ahead.
Simply put, Wilkinson is the man to beat. “I won a couple of races back in Britain in the last month, including the East Midlands Classic, and I knew the form was good,” the 30-year-old said. “It was a tough day out there with the wind, rain and cold, but things worked out well.”
He was the strongest of those in the escape and shed Richardson on the climb to the line. Thirty kilometres earlier Irish supporters had been hoping that O’Loughlin would be in the running, but he had been losing strength and stopped working.
Strictly speaking, with his team-mate Niko Eeckhout in the yellow jersey, he was under no obligation to contribute. But Christensen didn’t see it that way and stalled, taking him out of the back of the break. O’Loughlin chased back on twice, but the third time was unable to rejoin those up front; Christensen also suffered, though, as Wilkinson and Richardson put the hammer down and ensured that one of them would take the spoils.
Ultimately, only Christensen and five chasers – Rune Jogert (Norway Giant-Veolia), Jan Barta (Austria Arbö KTM Junkers), Bert Roesems (Australia Cinelli-Down Under), Darren Lapthorne (Britain Rapha Condor) and Ole Jorgen Jensen (Norway Giant Veoila) finished within four minutes of the winner, while the best Irishman, O’Loughlin, was seven minutes and seven seconds back. Eeckhout lost nearly 10 minutes.
That gives a huge advantage to the new yellow jersey but, as team manager Keith Lambert said, nothing is guaranteed.
“Taking the race lead two days into a race like this is tough,” he stated. “Of course we are delighted to get the stage and the jersey, but the Rás is very hard to control as the teams are so small. We’ll see how things go.”
The race continues today with a gruelling, 189km stage to Cahirciveen, and includes two category one climbs.
Tour details Stage Two
Wexford – Cobh: 1, Ian Wilkinson (Britain Halfords Bike Hut) 177.6km in 4 hours 56 mins 11 secs; 2, S Richardson (Britain Rapha Condor) at 14 secs; 3, M Christensen (Denmark Designa Kokken) at 3 minutes 3 secs; 4, R Jogert (Norway Giant-Veolia) at 3 mins 38 secs; 5, J Barta (Austria Arbö KTM Junkers); 6, B Roesems (Australia Cinelli-Down Under); 7, D Lapthorne (Britain Rapha Condor) all same time; 8, O Jorgen Jensen (Norway Giant-Veolia) at 3 mins 49 secs; 9, A Gottfried (Germany Kuota-Indeland) at 6 mins 57 secs; 10, J Spragg (China Trek Marco Polo), at 6 mins 58 secs; 11, D OLoughlin (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly), at 7 mins 7 secs; 12, R Downing (Britain Candi TV Marshalls), at 7 mins 32 secs; 13, K Jebjerg (Denmark Designa Kokken); 14, J Kugler (Austria Arbö KTM Junkers); 15, C Newton (Britain Rapha Condor), all same time.
General classification:1, Ian Wilkinson (Britain Halfords Bike Hut) 7 hours 49 mins 18 secs; 2, S Richardson (Britain Rapha Condor) at 19 secs; 3, M Christensen (Denmark Designa Kokken) at 3 mins 8 secs; 4, R Jogert (Norway Giant-Veolia) at 3 mins 43 secs; 5, D Lapthorne (Britain Rapha Condor); 6, B Roesems (Australia Cinelli-Down Under); 7, J Barta (Austria Arbö KTM Junkers) all same time; 8, O Jorgen Jensen (Norway Giant-Veolia), 3 mins 54 secs; 9, A Gottfried (Germany Kuota-Indeland), at 7 mins 2 secs; 10, J Spragg (China Trek Marco Polo), at 7 mins 3 secs; 11, D OLoughlin (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly), at 7 mins 12 secs; 12, R Downing (Britain Candi TV Marshalls), at 7 mins 29 secs; 13, J Kugler (Austria Arbö KTM Junkers), at 7 mins 37 secs; 14, C Newton (Britain Rapha Condor); 15, K Jebjerg (Denmark Designa Kokken), both same time
