Cycling Rás report: Twenty-four hours after taking stage two and seizing the FBD Insurance Rás yellow jersey, British rider Chris Newton once again outsprinted former Tour of Spain points victor Malcolm Elliott to win yesterday's third stage of the race.

Newton, Elliott and nine others broke the rest of the field on the day's final climb of Corkscrew Hill in the Burren, racing clear over the top of the switchbacked climb and plunging down into the finish in Lisdoonvarna.

Third on the stage was Malte Urban (Germany-Stevens von Hacht), with Morten Hegreberg (Norway-Sparebanken Vest) fourth and Irish duo Tim Barry (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) and Stephen Gallagher (Ireland-Grant Thornton) fifth and sixth.

"My team-mates did a tremendous job today," the former world points champion said. "After controlling things all day, they lit the race up by going very hard on the last climb and causing a split.

"I didn't intend going for the stage, really, but it was one of those slightly uphill finishes where everyone fanned across the road. I found myself in a good position and just went for it.

"It is great to win another stage. You have to take the chances when you can in this race, as it is so unpredictable."

Yesterday's result saw Newton preserve his eight-second lead over Elliott, with Hegreberg remaining two minutes and 16 seconds back in third. Barry's fine ride saw him move up two places to fourth, overtaking Rob Sharman (GB-Recycling.co.uk) and Kevin Dawson (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital).

Compatriot Eugene Moriarty (Meath-Cycleways) also rode well to hold on to his lead in the King of the Mountains competition. The Kerryman finished second on the day's first climb, and while he missed out on Corkscrew Hill, he carries a six-point advantage over Urban into today's fourth stage.

Following two days of flat-out racing, yesterday's leg was more controlled. There were several attempts to break things up, including a brave but fruitless 60km effort by Mark Lovatt (Yorkshire Trinity Capital) and Paul Healion (Dublin Usher Insulations), plus a later move containing Stian Remme (Norway-Sparebanken Vest), Gary Hand (Scotland), Paul Sheppard (Wales-Stena Line), Mick Hennessy (Cork Nucleus), Rory Wyley (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) and John Mason (Tipperary Worldwide Cycles). This sextet opened a 40-second lead but were hauled back just before Corkscrew Hill, paving the way for the final break and Newton's second stage win of the race.

"I was happy enough to hang in with them going up the Corkscrew," said Barry, now a fine fourth overall. "There were only 10 of us left at the top. There was a bit of madness from about 20km before the climb because you had to constantly move up and get around people in order to stay in position."

Moriarty was happy to defend his mountain jersey, but a bit concerned about Urban's second place on the last hill. "It was good to get some points on the first climb, that helps things," he said.

"The German was up there on the Corkscrew Hill, though, so he would have got some back on me. It was a bit unfortunate on the climb - I was marking Julian Winn on that as I saw him as my big rival, and we both crossed the top just after the leaders. I think someone let a wheel go, that is how the gap opened. We were pretty close to them over the summit, but we just couldn't get across."

Today's stage to Templemore will be crucial to Moriarty's aspirations of keeping the polka-dot jersey. There are four third-category climbs during the 162km stage, coming at Formoyle, Ballybrack, Lackamore and Curreeney Cross.

StageThreeResult:

Tubbercurry-Lisdoonvarna

1, Chris Newton (Recycling.co.uk) 156km in three hours 29 mins 55 secs (44.59 kph); 2, M Elliott (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital); 3, M Urban (Germany-Stevens von Hacht); 4, M Hegreberg (Norway-Sparebanken Vest); 5, T Barry (Tipperary Dan Morrissey); 6, S Gallagher (Ireland-Grant Thornton); 7, E Oliphant (Scotland); 8, G Rasch (Norway-Sparebanken Vest); 9, J Tanner (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital); 10, Y Barker (Wales Stena Line); 11, R Sharman (GB-Recycling.co.uk) all same time; 12, A Roche (Tipperary Worldwide Cycles) at 41 secs; 13, A Randell (Canada-Jet Fuel Coffee); 14, S Kelly (Cork Nucleus); 15, D Lynch (Kanturk) all same time. County rider (Cuchulainn Crystal): Tim Barry. Primes: KOM Cat 3, Lurga: 1, Julian Winn (Wales-Stena Line) 5 pts; 2, E Moriarty (Meath-Cycleways com) 4 pts; 3, S Gallagher (Ireland-Grant Thornton) 3 pts; 4, M Hegreberg (Norway-Sparebanken Vest) 2 pts. KOM cat 2, Corkscrew Hill: 1, Morten Hegreberg, 10 pts; 2, Urban, 8; 3, Sharman, 6; 4, Newton, 4; 5,

General Classification (George Plant trophy): 1, Chris Newton, 10 hours 34 mins 24 secs; 2, Elliott, at 8 secs; 3, Hegrebert, at 2 mins 16 secs; 4, Barry, at 2 mins 32 secs; 5, Sharman, same time; 6, Barker, at 2 mins 37 secs; 7, Rasch, same time; 8, K Dawson (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital) at 3 mins 4 secs; 9, C Murphy (Ireland-Grant Thornton) at 5 min 1 sec; 10, S Gillespie (US-TIAA CREF) at 5 mins 11 secs; 11, Tanner, at 5 mins 29 secs; 12, Oliphant, at 6 min 1 sec; 13, S Lacey (Meath M Donnelly) at 6 mins 15 secs; 14, J Dempsey (Ireland Grant Thornton) same time; 15, S Kukk (Estonia-Kalev Chocolate) at 6 mins 22 secs.

Points: 1, Chris Newton, 42 points; 2, Elliott, 38; 3, Hegreberg, 29; 4, Barry, 23; 5, Sharman, 21.

Mountains (Brendan Carroll trophy): 1, Eugene Moriarty, 23; 2, Urban, 16; 3, Hand, 10; 4, Gallagher, 10; 5, Krotky, 9.

Under-23 (Ben McKenna Trophy): 1, Stuart Gillespie (US-TIAA CREF) 10 hours 39 mins 35 secs; 2, A Coutts (Scotland) at 3 mins; 3, B Greenwood (GB-Recycling.co.uk) at 4 mins 29 secs; 4, I MacGregor (US-TIAA CREF) same time; 5, P O'Brien (Ireland-Grant Thornton) at 4 mins 56 secs.

County rider overall (Cycleways): 1, Tim Barry, 10 hours 36 mins 56 secs; 2, S Lacey (Meath-M Donnelly) at 3 mins 43 secs; 3, P Cassidy (Meath-Cycleways com) at 4 mins 8 secs; 4, A Roche (TipperaryWorldwide Cycles) at 4 mins 11 secs; 5, E Moriarty, at 4 mins 12 secs.

Second category rider: 1, Ciarán Farrell (Dublin Wheelers-All Systems) 10 hours 47 mins 9 secs; 2, M McLeavey (Dublin Dundrum Shopping Centre); 3, A O'Brien (Cork Nucleus) both same time; 4, B Meehan (Tipperary Worldwide Cycles) at 6 secs; 5, S Enright (Dublin Usher Insulations) at 27 secs.

International team overall: 1, Yorkshire-Trinity Capital, 31 hours 51 mins 55 secs.

County team overall: 1, Meath Cycleways.com, 32 hours 6 mins 44 secs.