Martin holds on for Rás victory

CYCLING:Last year the Skerries finale of the FBD Insurance Rás saw the overall classification go down to the wire. This time, the cliffhanger was the stage result, with Irishman Brian Kenneally holding off the main bunch by the smallest of margins to take his second such victory of the race.

The Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC rider was clear with David McCann (Ireland Subway Eat Fresh) in the closing kilometres of what was a gripping stage, then dropped the national road-race champion the final time up the Black Hills. With one kilometre to go he had an 18-second lead over a fast-closing main bunch. A strong headwind on the finishing stretch saw this gap plummet but Kenneally had just enough left to hit the line a bike-length clear.

"The last kilometre was unbelievably hard," he said. "I was doing 50 to 60 kilometres an hour after the climb but when I hit the headwind it was really tough."

At times it looked likely the overall leader, Tony Martin, would fall out of the yellow jersey but an unofficial alliance between his Germany Thuringer Energie team and compatriots from the Stevens Von Hacht squad saved the race lead. He finished 10th, crossing the line in the same group time as all his rivals, preserving his hold on the general classification.

Martin ended the eight-day, world-ranked event 17 seconds ahead of Páidí O'Brien (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M Donnelly Seán Kelly), with Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers NSWIS) 24 seconds back in third. O'Brien's second place ensured he was best Irishman. Stephen Gallagher (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M Donnelly Seán Kelly) was sixth, Kenneally was seventh and McCann ninth.

The latter went all out to try to scoop overall victory, attacking approximately 15 minutes after the start in Newcastle with American rider Nick Waite and Australian Peter Herzig. Their move threw the bunch into chaos, and after building a maximum lead of two minutes 20 seconds - which put McCann into the virtual yellow jersey - they were later joined by several others, including Saturday's stage victor, Dominique Rollin (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada), McCann's team-mate Nally and Kenneally.

McCann and Kenneally dropped the others with about 20 kilometres remaining and joined forces to try to stay clear. McCann ran out of steam on the last climb, dropping back to the bunch while Kenneally held on to take that hard-fought victory.

Rollin won the green points jersey and Ricardo Van der Velde (Netherlands) took the mountains classification. Martin was also best young rider, Kenneally was best Irish county team entrant and Brian Ahern (Dublin Dundrum Town Centre Orwell Wheelers) was top second-category competitor.