McConvey rode well and had a go in the closing stages (Photo: Paul Mohan – Sportsfile)
By Gerard Cromwell
In Gort
Swiss rider Pirmin Lang of the Atlas Personal Jackroo team has taken the yellow jersey of race leader at the end of stage two of the An Post Ras today, Monday, outsprinting Dale Appleby (Metaltek-Scott) James Moss (Node4 Giordana) and the rest of a seven-man breakaway group into Gort.
Also in this lead group which escaped outside Thurles, after a whopping 46km of racing had been covered in the first hour, were British duo Richard Handley (Rapha Condor Sharp) and Richard Tanguy (UK Youth), Namibian Dan Craven (IG - Sigma Sport), Dane Christian Jensen (Blue Water Cycling) and Belfast man Connor McConvey of Sean Kelly’s An Post squad.
Although a chase group containing Irish county riders Conor McAlister (Antrim Chain Reaction), Patrick Clarke (Mayo Western Edge), Simon Ryan (Tipperary DMG Visit Nenagh), Carlow Dan Morrissey duo Sean Lacey and Robin Kelly and the Isle of Man’s Graeme Hatcher hovered in between bunch and break at between two minutes and 50 seconds for much of the stage, a real reaction never came from the bunch until the final 30km of racing.
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“I was hoping our group would be joined by a few stronger riders later on and then you never know what could happen,” said Corkman Lacey of his spell in no man’s land.
“We worked pretty well together but we didn’t have the power in the group to make headway. When the group did come across to us in the end, it was the whole bunch and they flew by us, full gas. I think I was the only one from the group to finish in the bunch.”
Led by the Czech, Norwegian and French teams, who had all missed the move, the peloton clawed the leaders back to within 28 seconds on the finish line but that gap was enough to see Lang take over in yellow after the stage.
The Swiss rider though will spend much of tomorrow looking over his shoulder because six of his breakaway companions ended the stage on the same time overall and now fill the top spots on GC right behind him.
“We didn’t really know what to expect in Ireland but hoped to get a good result here,” said a happy Lang at the finish.
“We started off well with third yesterday with Nicolas Baldo and now we have a stage win so it’s a good start for us. I knew the group had a lot of strong teams in it so I thought we would stay away. It worked well sometimes but sometimes guys did nothing and the gap fell. I was happy to win the stage but the race is long and we don’t have a plan to defend the jersey yet.”
McConvey took seventh on the stage having jumped the group with 400m to go and is now up to fifth on GC.
“Usually I’ve no chance at all in a sprint,” he said.
“I can’t sprint my way out of a paper bag. I tried to get away before that on the climbs and towards the end to give myself any chance but it was so fast, the tailwind made it really hard to make any difference. We had a 46kph average for the stage so you have to have massive power to be able to skip away there. The only option for me was to try to surprise them and I did that. I hit out with 400m to go but they caught me 50m from the end.”
An Post riders filled the first two places in the bunch sprint with Sam Bennett leading them home ahead of last year’s Ras winner Gediminas Bagdonas, who took over in the points jersey today.
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“Today was good for the team to have a man in the breakaway,” said the affable Lithuanian.
“Connor is maybe not so strong in the sprint but today for the team it was an easier day. We didn’t have to chase and we could sit in the group and wait. The break didn’t get too much time and again tomorrow we will try to get a man in the breakaway. The green jersey is very nice for me and for the team too. I have the green jersey now,” he smiled.
“I hope to have a better one later on.”
Craven, who enjoyed a very good day on the climbs in the breakaway today, takes the KOH jersey.
Unfortunately for Dubliner Philip Lavery (NODE4 Giordana), one of the day’s escapees – Handley – is an U23 rider and so he has relived Lavery of the lead in that competition. Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles) took the county prize.
With three climbs in quick succession before the last 16km into the finish, the breakaway men did very well to hang on out there. The gap was down around the one minute mark with 10kms to go and kept creeping down all the way to the finish.
However, the leaders stuck to their task and drove it in the road to Gort, where Lang won a great gallop for the stage win and the yellow jersey.
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