For the third time in as many days, Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) showed why he is the world’s top sprinter by winning in Galway on Friday’s stage of the Tour of Ireland.
The Manx rider took his third successive stage victory and further extended his overall lead in the race, ending the day 20 seconds ahead of Julian Dean (Garmin Chipotle).
Italian rider Bernardo Riccio (Tinkoff Credit Systems) was second in the 93-man dash to the line in Salthill, with Dean and Alexander Kristoff (Joker Bianchi) third and fourth.
Ciarán Power was once again the best of the Irish, the Pezula rider coming home in seventh. He also remains best of the home crew overall; Power ends the day twelfth, 34 seconds behind the dominant Cavendish.
The 201 kilometre stage began in Ballinrobe and took the riders on a loop through locations such as Cong, Westport, Louisburgh, Leenáun, Oughterard, Spiddal and Barna. It featured two category two climbs, a pair of category three ascents and three An Post intermediate sprints.
Following a succession of short-lived attacks, two riders succeeded in breaking the elastic and building a strong lead.
Kieran Page (Pezula Racing) and Kurt Hovelijnck (Topsport Vlaanderen) darted away inside the first 25 kilometres, going clear before the category two climb of Finny, and together built a maximum lead of 3 minutes 55 seconds.
Hovelijnck pulled out of the break approximately 90 kilometres into the stage and went back to the bunch, leaving Page to continue alone. He plugged away over the following climbs and eked out a maximum advantage of just over five minutes, collecting a cluster of points for the King of the Mountains and Sprint competitions.
However Cavendish’s team was determined to set things up for another sprint and dragged the gap back down once more. Page was caught and passed by Spanish rider Juan Francisco Mouron (Karpin Galicia) approximately 65 kilometres from the finish, with both riders being subsequently reeled in by the peloton.
Daniel Lloyd (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) and Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) then went clear soon afterwards and carved out a lead of 3 minutes 12 seconds.
They were out front for the final An Post sprint in Oughterard and the category two ascent of Keeagh, with Lloyd taking the first and Clarke the second, and stayed together until Lloyd crashed on the descent off the climb.
Clarke dug deep but was finally overtaken inside the last 20 kilometres.
Subsequent moves by Cameron Jennings (Pezula Racing) and then Kristian House (Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) were also negated, as were a number of other attempts.
That paved the way for the third bunch sprint of the race, and the third successive sprint victory by Cavendish.
The race continues with two more difficult stages.
Saturday’s leg takes the riders 186 kilometres from Limerick to Dingle, crossing the category one climb of the Conor Pass and the category two Mount Eagle in the final fifty kilometres and maybe, just maybe, loosening Cavenish’s strong grip on the yellow, green and best young rider jerseys.
Mountains leader Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) has been climbing well and has a chance to further increase his lead in that competition.
