Irish rider Brian Kenneally rode to an excellent victory on stage two of the FBD Insurance Rás today, jumping clear from a thirteen man breakaway inside the final two kilometres and hitting the finish line in Loughrea two seconds clear.
The Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC rider suffered a bad crash in last month’s Shay Elliott Memorial but showed he was fully recovered in taking the second Rás stage win of his career, some seven years after he triumphed on a stage of the 2000 race.
Tony Martin (Germany Thuringer Energy) placed second, with Paul Griffin (Ireland Subway) and Mark Cassidy (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) making it three Irish in the top ten when they took sixth and eighth respectively.
Overnight leader Mart Ojavee finished back in the main bunch, losing the yellow jersey to promising 20 year old Dutch rider Ricardo Van der Velde.
He had started the day second overall thanks to the time bonuses gained in three of yesterday’s hot spot sprints, and is now three seconds clear of Jesse Anthony (US Kodak Gallery Sierra Nevada) in the general classification. Kenneally is third overall, five seconds back.
Van der Velde and his brother Alain – also on the Netherlands team here - are sons of former top professional Johan Van der Velde, who finished third in the 1982 Tour de France and also placed in the top 15 on three other occasions.
