Junior Tour of Ireland stage cancelled; O'Brien faces two days of defence

A strong man has yellow - Liam O'Brien of Team Ireland - on the Junior Tour. But after today's cancellation - which allowed more recovery time than expected - some riders may come back into contention for the last two stages (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Today's stage 4 of the Eurocycles Eurobaby Junior Tour of Ireland was cancelled as it was found the biblical conditions - very heavy rain - would be too unsafe to allow the field race around the roads of Co Clare. The rainfall had resulted in surface water and flooding at several locations, with no prospect of any change in conditions before the stage was due to end.

While the cancellation on safety grounds was unavoidable, it robbed the race of what should have been a great day of action, including an uphill finish. Stage 4 was set to bring the riders on a 111.7km route, starting and finishing at Aillwee Caves.

The route included an early loop via Carron before racing through the Burren, Ballyvaughan and onto the coast road for Doolin, the climb of Doonagore, or Castle Hill, before racing back through the Burren via Lemenagh Castle and tackling the short steep finish to the entrance of Aillwee Cave.

However, while that route - not to mention the fatigue now in the legs of the junior bunch - would have likely split the race, the organisers had to put safety first. It means the yellow jersey - Liam O'Brien of Team Ireland - now has just two days remaining to defend that lead, though the riders closest to him will feel they have plenty of time to take him on.

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O'Brien - who won stage 1 and was in the winning breakaway on stage 2 - leads overall by six seconds from Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada), with Ben Stokes of the American Hot Tubes team in 3rd place at 22 seconds. Indeed, there are five other riders all on the same time as Stokes - meaning they are all within striking distance of yellow.

Then comes Oisin Ferrity, another stage winner for Team Ireland - in 9th at 37 seconds. Charles Bergeron (Ignite Canada), who was in the two-man breakaway with O'Brien on stage 1, completes the top 10 for now, also at 37 seconds. However, though there are just two stages remaining, the gaps at small; the top 40 all covered by just 60 seconds.

Tomorrow's stage 5 is 87.5km and sees the riders travel into East Clare along the Tulla Road to Tuamgraney and Scarriff where a number of climbs greet the riders on the same roads as Rás Tailteann this year via Maghera, Crusheen and finishing at Barefield.

Finally, Sunday's stage 6 remains the same as previous years with 8 laps of a circuit on the outskirts of Ennis taking in the Kilrush road, Ballyea and racing back in the Kildysert road to finish at the Watertower on Clonroadbeg.