Cycling Rás report: First, at last. For the past two days, Malcolm Elliott has come close to achieving his goal of a stage win on this FBD Insurance Rás, sprinting strongly but being pipped by race leader Chris Newton each time.
Yesterday, the Yorkshire-Trinity Capital rider turned back the clock to the era when he was winning stages in races such as the Tour of Spain and the Nissan Classic, thundering in at the head of the bunch and taking the top honours.
In his heyday Elliott was one of the fastest sprinters in the European peloton and, while he is now 43, he retains much of his speed. He outsprinted 109 other riders to win into Templemore yesterday, outsmarting an overconfident Newton who jumped too early.
Elliott's victory was particularly sweet for the Yorkshire team, as Newton's team had staged a last-gasp recapture of two of their riders. Mark Lovatt and Ireland's Tommy Evans were clear right up to the closing stages, going eyeballs out to try to hold off the main bunch. Evans blew with two kilometres remaining, while Lovatt was caught just 100 metres from the line.
"The last two days I haven't been quite up to power, but today it all fell into place," said Elliott after the finish. "I didn't think it was going to be a bunch sprint today - when that break went I thought I would stay away. At the end, when there were just two riders from my own team left in front, I thought it couldn't be any better for us.
"Unfortunately it didn't stay that way. The pace picked up towards the finish as people started sensing possible victory. Tommy and Mark were brought back right at the end - for me to win is a consolation, really. If they couldn't take it, me getting the victory is the next best thing."
Third on the stage was Irish rider Eugene Moriarty (Meath-Cycleways.com) with compatriot Paul Healion (Dublin-Usher Insulations) taking a fine fourth. Both were delighted with their finish, but things could have been even better for the home riders had misfortune not struck near the end.
Evans, Philip Cassidy (Meath-Cycleways.com) and Scottish rider Duncan Urquhart had originally gone clear with several others 30km into the 162km stage. The trio pressed on approximately 20km later, being joined soon afterwards by Lovatt, Zach Bell (Canada-Jet Fuel Coffee), Are Andresen (Norway-Sparebanken Vest) and John Charlesworth (NE England).
Following the last climb, Lovatt, Evans, Cassidy and Charlesworth opened a gap on the others and pooled their strength in a bid to hold off the pursuing main bunch. But on the final descent Cassidy and Charlesworth overshot a tight left-hand bend and ended up in the ditch, as did Urquhart and Andreson. And while all four riders were able to remount and finish the stage, it is very conceivable that Evans, Lovatt, Cassidy and Charlesworth could otherwise have held off the peloton and fought out the stage win between them.
Cassidy's team-mate Moriarty was happy with his stage. In addition to finishing third, the break mopped up all the mountain points available so he preserves his lead in the King of the Hills competition.
The Kerry rider remains six points clear of closest rival Morten Hegreberg (Norway-Sparebanken Vest) heading into today's 143km stage to Abbeleix where five climbs, including the first category ascents of The Crag and The Butts, await.
Lisdoonvarna-Templemore
1, Malcolm Elliott (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital) 162km in 4 hours 2 minutes 58 secs; 2, C Newton (Recycling.co.uk); 3, E Moriarty (Meath-Cycleways.com); 4, P Healion (Dublin Usher Insulations); 5, M Hegreberg (Norway-Sparebanken Vest); 6, Y Barker (Wales Stena Line); 7, S Kuuk (Estonia-Kalev Chocolates); 8, A Hinrichsen (Germany-Stevens von Hacht); 9, J Tanner (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital); 10, R Krotky (Czech Republic-Elmarco KK Cube); 11, M Cassidy (Meath-Cycleways.com); 12, R Kooijman (Netherlands-Kennemerland); 13, M Ojavee (Estonia-Kalev Chocolate); 14, N Mitchell (US-TIAA CREF); 15, A Crowley (Meath-Cycleways.com) all same time.
County rider (Cuchulainn Crystal): E Moriarty.
KOH primes: Formoyle, category 3: 1, T Evans (Yorkshire Trinity Capital) 5 points; 2, A Andresen (Norway-Sparebanken Vest) 4 pts; 3, M Lovatt (Yorkshire Trinity Capital) 3 pts; 4, Z Bell (Canada-Jet Fuel Coffee) 2 pts. Ballybrack, category 3: 1, P Cassidy (Meath-Cycleways.com) 5 pts; 2, Lovatt, 4 pts; 3, Andresen, 3 pts; 4, Bell, 2 pts. Lackamore, category 3: 1, M Lovatt, 5 pts; 2, D Urquhart (Scotland) 4; 3, Bell, 3; 4, Evans, 2. Curreeney Cross, category 3: 1, Lovatt 5 pts; 2, Cassidy, 4; 3, Bell, 3; 4, Andresen, 2.
General Classification (George Plant trophy): 1, C Newton, 14 hours 37 mins 22 secs; 2, Elliott, at 8 secs; 3, Hegreberg, at 2 mins 16 secs; 4, R Sharman (GB-Recycling.co.uk) at 2 mins 32 secs; 5, T Barry (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) same time.
Points: 1, Newton, 56 points; 2, Elliott, 53; 3, Hegreberg, 40; 4, Barker, 29; 5, Tanner, 25.
Mountains (Brendan Carroll trophy): 1, Moriarty, 23; 2, Hegreberg, 17; 3, Lovatt, 17; 4, Urban, 16; 5, Gallagher, 10.
Under-23 (Ben McKenna Trophy): 1, S Gillespie (US-TIAA CREF) 14 hours 42 mins 33 secs; 2, A Coutts (Scotland) at 3 mins; 3, I MacGregor (US-TIAA CREF) at 4 mins 29 secs.
County rider overall (Cycleways): 1, T Barry, 14 hours 39 mins 54 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 (Tipperary-Worldwide Cycles) at 4 mins 11 secs; 5, E Moriarty, at 4 mins 12 secs.
Second category rider: 1, Mark McLeavey (Dublin Dundrum Shopping Centre) 10 hours 47 mins 9 secs.
International team overall: 1, Yorkshire-Trinity Capital, 44 hours 00 mins 49 secs; 2, Norway-Sparebanken Vest, at 3 mins 4 secs; 3, GB-Recycling.co.uk, at 3 mins 30 secs; 4, Ireland-Grant Thornton, at 11 mins 32 secs; 5, Wales-Stena Line, at 13 mins 58 secs.
County team overall: 1, Meath Cycleways.com, 44 hours 15 mins 38 secs; 2, Tipperary Dan Morrissey, at 1 min 24 secs; 3, Meath M Donnelly, at 4 mins 7 secs; 4, Tipperary Worldwide Cycles, at 6 mins 44 secs; 5, Cork Nucleus, at 7 mins 30 secs.
