Stage one winner Oceane Goergen (Ladynamips RVC) bounced back after losing her Rás na mBan race lead on Thursday, winning stage three on Friday.
The Frenchwoman blasted home first in a big bunch sprint into Mountrath, beating Amelia Cebak (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team), Irishwoman Gabrielle Fox (Greenmount Cycling Academy), Bronwyn MacGregor (Greenmount Cycling Academy) and 28 others to the line.
Esther Wong (Ireland) and Linda Kelly (Cycling Ireland Women's Commission) made it three Irish riders in the top 10, netting eighth and tenth respectively.
"I am very happy to win again today," Goergen said. "We had a strategy for today. It was to get into the break and myself and my team-mate succeeded in this. In the end we were recaptured. I had a tough time following the wheels but in the end I was surprised to get my energy back and to win."
Cebak’s second place proved crucial in the battle for the overall, with the six-second time bonus for that placing seeing her leap from fourth to first in the general classification.
She is now one second clear of fellow Briton Alice McWilliam (Team Phoenix) and the Dutch stage two winner Noor Dekker (WV Breda Women CT), and five seconds ahead of Noémie Abgrall (Ladynamips RVC).
Fox’s third place saw her jump up eight places in the overall standings, moving into sixth and bumping Aliyah Rafferty (Cycling Ireland) down one place.
Wong and Kelly are 11th and 12th overall.
Stage three started in Portlaoise and was the longest of the race at 104.4 kilometres.
Cycling Ireland's Aine Doherty sparked off the day’s big move when she went solo 72 kilometres from the finish and was soon joined by 12 others.
Goergen was there, along with her Ladynamips RVC team-mate Chloe Fourmigue and Irishwoman Elena Wallace (Cycling Ireland Women’s Commission).
Also present were Charlotte Deykin (Jadan Vive le Velo), Jennifer Powell (FTP Racing), Emma Lyngholm (Team Aalborg Sparekassen Danmark), Lucy Gadd (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team), Eleftheria Giachou (Team Greece), Jasmijn Bloemheuvel (WV Breda Women CT), Cecilia Hime (Brother UK/OnForm), Gertrud Riis Madsen (Team Aalborg Sparekassen Denmark) and Kirstie Drakeford (Jadan Vive le Vélo).
They raced onto the category one climb of The Cut and went over the summit 36 seconds ahead of the front of the peloton. Giachou was first to the top, taking maximum points.
Bloemheuvel, Deykin, Doherty and Wallace lost their place in the breakaway, which had a solid 1’05 lead with 42 kilometres to go.
Goergen showed her sprinting power again when she won the intermediate sprint.
The breakaway’s lead started to tumble due to the pursuit behind and was just 10 seconds with 10 kilometres to go.
They were finally reeled in 6 kilometres from the line and while Louise Norman Hansen (Team Aalborg Sparekassen Denmark) attacked immediately afterwards and had 11 seconds with three kilometres to go, she was absorbed by the speeding peloton one kilometre later.
Goergen then uncorked a winning sprint into Mountrath, capturing her second stage victory ahead of Cebak, Fox and the others in her group.
The international race continues on Saturday with what should be one of the most decisive stages. The 101-kilometre route takes the riders from Kilkenny to the summit of The Rower, an ascent which will be climbed twice by the riders and which should cause many splits in the peloton.
