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It was another good day for the An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team, which once again ended up with the race leader’s yellow jersey after a tough day in the FBD Insurance Rás.
Mark Cassidy took over from team-mate Stephen Gallagher at the top of the general classification, taking yellow nine years after his father Philip won the second of his two Rás titles.
He was part of the day’s big breakaway and finished 15th, ending the day three seconds ahead of closest rival Rob Partridge (Britain Stena Line).
Gallagher missed the move and came home in a group two minutes and 35 seconds back, dropping to 14th overall.
Double Rás champion Chris Newton and 2004 winner David McCann scrapped it out for the stage win, the duo breaking away from the leading group with 18 kilometres to go and building a strong lead.
Newton surged inside the final 500 metres and hit the line two seconds ahead of McCann, while Mateusz Komar (Poland national team) and Waterford’s Ciarán Power (Ireland Pezula Racing) were next across the line, just over a minute back.
Partridge finished fifth, one minute and six seconds behind Newton. There was initially some confusion as to whether he or Cassidy was in yellow, but after deliberations the judges ruled that the Irish rider had made it by three seconds.
Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven) and Andrew Bye (Britain Surrey Racing League) are third and fourth overall, with Newton and McCann’s strong performance moving them up to sixth and seventh.
The stage was run off in strong winds and these, the heavy roads and the first category climb of Doonagore near the end, ensured a tough day in the saddle for all.
Three days into the race and there are now only 24 riders within two minutes of Cassidy as the list of potential winners is being thinned out quite rapidly.
The race continues tomorrow with a lumpy 156 kilometre-leg from Corofin to Tralee.
