County men eliminated from Rás as last group misses time cut
With Glengesh Pass, above, coming before the halfway point and as one of seven climbs, it is not surprising some men find themselves out of the Rás. But they'll be back to finish their business (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
Having survived six very heavy days in the saddle on the An Post Rás, four county riders have been eliminated.
The riders formed the last group on the road today. And after four hours on the road they missed the cut by just over 12 minutes.
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The winner Yannis Yassad (France Armée de Terre) completed the 132.1km leg from Dungloe to Donegal in a time of 3hrs 19mins 21secs.
He won the sprint from a front group of 30 men, with the rest of the field stretched very far back the road.
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The cut off point was 20 per cent, meaning all of the riders in the field needed to complete the stage in a maximum of 3hours 59mins 13secs.
Unfortunately for the four me eliminated they finished in a time of 4hours 11mins 51secs.
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Once the splits start and riders find themselves distanced, especially early on a stage, the time cut can be a real danger (Photo: Gary McIlroy)
Like yesterday’s stage, even those who rode quite well to find themselves in the third or fourth group on the road lost huge time.
The top 40 riders today were covered by a time gap of 10 minutes, with another 15 minutes covering the next 40 home.
And on a day with seven climbs and the brutal Glengesh coming just before the halfway point, anyone who got left behind early today was in big trouble.
Unfortunately four of those were Ciaran Murphy (Galway McVeigh Cars), the Kerry Killarney CC duo of Leigh Hewerdine and Michael Lucey and Limerick Newcastle West Rockwell’s Paul O’Connell.
Unfortunately for Murphy he had come down with an inflame tendon and was up against it from the start today.
Lucey agreed to ride the Rás late in the day and would have liked to get more preparation to show his real worth. But hopefully he will be back on this race.
And for team mate Hewerdine; a crash at the recent Crotty Cup wreaked havoc with his preparation.
He would battle well all week but as the racing got hillier as this Rás has gone on, any interruption to a rider’s preparation will throw them off balance. We had not update on O’Connell this evening.
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