|
2006 How things can change. Yesterday evening it looked likely that this year’s FBD Insurance Rás would be fought out amongst four riders, Danny Pate (USA TIAA-CREF), Martin Pradznovsky (Norway Sparebanken Vest), Wayne Randle (Britain Doncaster Stena Line) and Rob Sharman (Britain Recycling.co.uk) having taken over three minutes out of the rest of the field. Although the race is notoriously unpredictable and difficult to control, the thinking was that it would be difficult for the rest of the field to get time back on each of the four, particularly if their teams were riding to keep them up in the general classification. Yet within 24 hours everything was transformed. Joshua Marden (Australia FRF Couriers) proved quickest in the 28 man sprint which decided the third stage into An Daingean, the 23 year old outgalloping Polish rider Lukasz Modzelewski, Irishman Mehall Fitzgerald (Meath MyHome.ie/Cycleways), American Mike Friedman (USA TIAA-CREF), Paul Healion (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group), 2003 and 2005Rás champion Chris Newton (Britain Recycling.co.uk) and the rest of the breakaway group to take the win. Pate, Pradznovsky, Randle and Sharman all came in 3 minutes and 30 seconds down, dropping to third, tenth, 12th and 13th overall. The crucial move started happening quite far out. Twenty riders had gone clear of the bunch with about 50 kilometres remaining, reeling in nine breakaway riders and then lone leader Ray Clarke (Éireann Dan Morrissey), who was a further 30 seconds up. What was remarkable was that this big, big group didn’t contain any of the four who had been so strong one day previously. Granted, Monday’s stage would have taken a lot out of their legs, but it was nevertheless unexpected that things would turn around in such a dramatic fashion. The net result is that what was an advantage of three minutes-plus has been negated, and the race is wide open once again. With his team-mate Danny Pate losing 3 minutes and 30 seconds today, Friedman took over at the top of the general classification. He ended the day 22 seconds ahead of defending champion Chris Newton (Britain Recycling.co.uk), a further second ahead of Pate, and 30 seconds up on the best Irish rider, fourth-placed Tommy Evans. Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) and Simon Kelly (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) are also poised to strike in the top six. Friedman was very happy with yellow. “I am excited and nervous, and freezing right now, too,” he said after the presentation. “It is a good feeling, I haven’t been in a yellow jersey for quite a few years. I had the lead in the Tour de l’Abitibi a long time ago, that is a junior stage race. I went to school after that, stopped cycling…I was bigger when I got out of school, because of the junk food! I started racing track two years ago and then this year I got picked up by TIAA-CREF to do the track, mostly. But I am starting to find I like the road more!” “We were not too worried about defending Danny’s lead. We still had seven stages to go this morning, so there wasn’t a real rush,” he stated. “There wasn’t a real worry. We could play two cards, and things are even better now. Either myself or Danny can go for it, whoever. It worked out in our favour, but it is not anything that we were really working for. “Having the lead is good for morale, for me and the team. We have a strong team here, there are a lot of other strong guys here too…I don’t know some of the guys, it is the first time I have got to ride with them. It has been an honour so far.” Stage winner Joshua Marden gave his outline of how the stage went. “It was tough, given the conditions and the wind, but that is the same for everybody. Everybody has to do it,” he said. “We studied the finish the night before and I knew that if I was in a break, I had a good chance being a sprinter. So that is how it worked out. I had two guys in the break to help me, they could shelter me most of the day and then coming into the finish, they were able to lead it out for me.” “I will try again this week, if it comes down to a sprint we have a very good chance because we are a strong sprinting team. Myself and another guy are good finishers.” So too Mehall Fitzgerald, who was best placed of the Irish in third. He was disappointed he didn’t get the stage win he was aiming for. “I followed Newton into the corner and I was about sixth at that point,” he said. “Gaps opened up there as guys let wheels go and the rider who won the stage got a good head start on me. By the time I got going, it was too late. But I will definitely try again this week.” “Hopefully I will get a stage before the week is over, that would make my week, to be honest. I don’t have the preparation races or enough in me to do better GC wise, but if I can get a stage that would be fantastic. “I haven’t targeted any stage in particular, with this race you just don’t know which way things will go. I will try to get up the road again to a group that will get me to the finish, rather than trying to get from behind up to the front. I have taken five stages in the past and it would be great to get another one. I hope to get some legs out of this for the rest of the year, too.” Fitzgerald said Newton’s squad were very strong. “Recycling did most of the work coming in the road. Murphy and Gunn did a little bit in the last few kilometres, they are probably hoping to get Paul Healion up for the finish. But it was mainly the British team.” Also finishing to the fore was Healion (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group, 5th), plus Simon Kelly (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group, 8th) and Tommy Evans (Dublin Usher Insulations, 10th). So too many of the overall contenders. The race is suddenly wide open again. As a result of today’s stage, the first thirteen are all within 1 minute and ten seconds of each other, including Irishmen Evans, Simon Kelly, O’Loughlin and Brian Kenneally. There is therefore everything to go for. More tough racing is consequently expected for tomorrow’s 150 kilometre mountainous stage to Listowel. The third stage of the FBD Insurance Rás took the riders 173 kilometres to An Daingean, otherwise known as Dingle. The peloton set off from the start in Cobh (the final departure point for the Titanic) in bright weather, morale boosted by the sun. Christopher Belsham (Yorkshire JE James RT) was first to attack and got 50 metres, but was recaptured soon afterwards. Ryan Connor (Ireland Grant Thornton), Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers), Eoin Whelan (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) and Ray Clarke (Éireann Dan Morrissey) were next to try, and were soon joined by nine others - Evan Oliphant (Britain Recycling.co.uk), David O’Loughlin (Ireland Grant Thornton), Wayne Randle (Britain Doncaster Stena Line), Jehudi Schoonacker (Belgium M.Donnelly Sean Kelly), Johannes Sickmuller (Germany Stevens), Paul Healion (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group), Jaroslaw Welniak (Poland Legia Bazylisek), Mike Friedman (USA TIAA-CREF) and Tommy Evans (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations). The group got 20 seconds but the Norwegian Sparebanken Vest team hauled them back just before the Jack Lynch tunnel, which came 17 kilometres into the stage. Shortly after, three other riders went clear. John O’Shea (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group), John Dempsey (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) and last year’s stage 8 winner, Bill Moore (Meath M. Donnelly) built a few seconds lead, and a small group got across to them. But this was brought back, as was a subsequent mass attack containing approximately 30 riders. A strong headwind was blowing and this settled things down for a while. Then after 50 kilometres of racing, eight riders went clear, namely Evan Oliphant (Britain Recycling.co.uk), Mark Lovatt, Deiter Droger (Britain Doncaster Stena Line), Peter Herzig (Australia FRF Couriers), Fabian Brzezinski (Germany Stevens), David Sachs (USA Endeavour Cycling), Christopher Belsham (Yorkshire JE James RT) and Craig Sweetman (Meath M. Donnelly). They opened up a 1 minute 20 second lead over the main bunch, after which Denis Lynch (Cork Murray Ford Developments) set off in pursuit. He was joined by Ashley Brown (Britain Recycling.co.uk), Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers), Tim Cassidy (Ireland M. Donnelly Sean Kelly),Brandon Crichton (Canada Symmetrics) and Denis Lynch (Cork Murray Ford Developments). The Poland Legia Bazylisek team were driving the main field along at this point, trying to stay in contact. Up front, the break split on the category 3 County Bounds climb, with four going ahead. Herzig, Brzezinski, Lovatt and Oliphant went across the summit in that order, while the other riders were caught by the bunch soon afterwards. Seven riders set off in pursuit, John O’Shea (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group), Peter Hey (Yorkshire JE James RT), Michael Hennessy (Cork Murray Ford Developments), Michael O’Reilly (Galway Velotec.ie), Sean Lacey (Kerry Earl of Desmond), Mehall Fitzgerald (Meath MyHome.ie Cycleways.com) and Ray Clarke (Eireann Dan Morrissey) making good inroads into the front four. Hey was dropped, but the others successfully bridged up on the outskirts of Killarney, after 106 kilometres of racing. The gap at this point was a considerable 2 minutes and 40 seconds about five kilometres before the third category ascent of Crohane. Herzig once again took top KOH points when he was first to the summit. O’Reilly, Hennessy and Lacey were next and, shortly afterwards, Ray Clarke attacked and opened up a good lead. Further back, a large group of riders clipped away from the bunch and started closing up towards the break. The group comprised Chris Newton, Kristian House, Robert Partridge (Britain Recycling.co.uk), David O’Loughlin, Paídi O’Brien (Ireland Grant Thornton), Peter McDonald, Joshua Marden (Australia FRF Couriers), Mark Cassidy (Ireland M. Donnelly Sean Kelly), Brandon Crichton (Canada Symmetrics), Simon Kelly, Paul Healion (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group), Morten Hegreberg, Kurt Anders Fostervold, Lukasz Modzelewski (Poland Legia Bazylisek), Lucas Euser (USA TIAA-CREF), Mike Friedman (USA TIAA-CREF), Tommy Evans (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations), John Lynch (Kildare Murphy), Brian Kennedy (Meath MyHome.ie Cycleways.com) and Tim Barry (Éireann Dan Morrissey). It was a strong bunch of riders and, crucially, the first four in the general classification had all missed out. That gave a considerable motivation to the chasers to catch all of those up front and then to eke out a bigger advantage on the rest of the field. Clarke built an advantage of 30 seconds but he was finally caught about 36 kilometres from the end of the stage, meaning that there was a big group of about 30 riders hurtling in towards An Daingean. Shortly afterwards the gap back to the main bunch was timed at a minute. The riders from the Poland Legia Bazylisek team, the USA TIAA-CREF squad and the Ireland M. Donnelly Sean Kelly selection were driving the chase but despite their efforts, the break pulled further and further ahead. Sensing that the bunch was going to lose more and more time, Jehudi Schoonacker, Miceal Concannon (Ireland M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) and Martin O’Loughlin (Éireann Dan Morrissey) clipped away with about 25 kilometres left and were then joined by Simon Whelan (Dublin Wheelers All Systems) and Stephen O’Sullivan (Meath MyHome.ie Cycleways.com). They were 1 minute and 38 seconds back at this point, with the bunch now 2 minutes and 5 seconds down. But try as they did, it was impossible to close up to the speeding front group. The riders crossed the third category climb of An Draighneain with 20 kilometres to go, Peter Herzig taking top points from Hegreberg, Evans and Friedman. The first two placings were reversed on the final climb of the day, the third cat An Bharog Bheag, which came 13.5 kilometres from the finish. McDonald and Evans were third and fourth here. At this point the small group of chasers was 2 minutes and 30 seconds back, while the Norway Sparebanken Vest-led peloton was three minutes in arrears. The yellow jersey was all but guaranteed to change hands and this meant that riders such as Newton’s Recycling.co.uk team continued to drive as hard as possible. They knew that Friedman would take over at the top but also that Newton would be right back in the running, so that was plenty of incentive. The constant driving at the front meant that anything other than a bunch sprint was unlikely, and although riders such as Tim Barry tried to clip away near the end, they had little chance. Instead it was Marden who took the stage, outkicking the others in the uphill drag to the line. He came in just ahead of Modzelweski and Fitzgerald, with new yellow jersey Friedman fourth, Paul Healion fifth and Newton sixth. Peter Herzig, Simon Kelly, Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) and Tommy Evans (Dublin Usher) rounded out the top ten. Hegreberg’s consistency on the climbs saw him move equal on points with Power in the mountains classification, but the latter stays in the jersey on countback. Newton moved further ahead in the points classification, while his Recycling.co.uk squad took over from Norway Sparebanken Vest in the teams’ classification. Meath MyHome.ie Cycleways flipped places with Dublin IRC Usher Insulations, taking the lead in the county team standings. Evans, John McCarthy (Kerry Earl of Desmond) and Robert Partridge ended the day at the top of the Cycleways county rider, the Cycling Ireland category 2 classification and the Ben McKenna Under 23 standings respectively. --------- · 1956 Ras winner Paudi Fitzgerald was a very well received guest of honour at the prize presentation today. He won the race 50 years ago. -------- Tomorrow’s stage: The 2006 FBD Insurance Rás continues with a hilly 150 kilometre stage from An Daingean to Listowel. The riders will face four third category climbs, one second cat and the first category ascent of The Maum, which comes just 27 kilometres from the line. FBD Insurance Rás stage 3, Cobh to An Daingean: 1, Joshua Marden (Australia FRF Couriers) 172.5 kilometres in 4 hours 42 mins 49 secs Cuchulainn Crystal county rider: 1, Mehall Fitzgerald (MyHome.ie) Category 3 climb at County Bounds: 1, Peter Herzig (Australia FRF Couriers) 5 pts Category 3 climb at Crohane: 1, Peter Herzig (Australia FRF Couriers) 5 pts Category 3 climb at An Draighneain: 1, Peter Herzig (Australia FRF Couriers) 5 pts Category 3 climb at An Bharog Bheag: 1, Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 5 pts 1, Australia FRF Couriers 14 hours 8 mins 27 secs County team: 1, Meath MyHome.ie/Cycleways 14 hours 12 mins 4 secs 1, Mike Friedman (USA TIAA-CREF) 12 hours 5 mins 50 secs 1, Chris Newton, 35 1, Ciarán Power (Éireann Dan Morrissey) 20 1, Robert Partridge, 12 hours 9 mins 47secs 1, Tommy Evans (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) 12 hours 6 mins 20 secs 1, John McCarthy, 12 hours 13 mins 17 secs 1, Britain Recycling.co.uk, 12 hours 6 mins 20 secs 1, Meath MyHome.ie/Cycleways, 36 hours 44 mins 45 secs |
