The charge to the finish line on the final stage of the Gorey Three Day today, when Martin Meschkat saw off a still rapid Colm Bracken for the stage win. Yellow jersey Mark Reilly of Lucan CRC was comfortable in the bunch and kept his jersey (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)
Mark Reilly of Lucan CRC started the final stage of the Gorey Three Day in the yellow jersey this morning and ventured home to west Dublin with the coveted tunic tonight as winner of the 2014 edition of one of Ireland’s most beloved races.
Beginning the final stage of the three-day, four-stage, race with some 19 seconds to spare over off road legend Robin Seymour (Expert Cycles), Reilly and his team fought hard to neutralise any threats.
As is traditional in the Gorey, it was action stations from the gun again on today’s final stage that brought the riders away from their base of the Easter Weekend back towards the capital.
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Diarmuid Kavanagh (SERC), Kenneth Conlon (Naas CC), Graham Thomas (LCRC) and Ian Redmond (Fermoy) were the first to make a jump, gaining a 10 second advantage.
Stephen Geary (Phoenix CC) took up the chase and it wasn’t long before he caught the four ahead of him; the gap to the bunch behind now increasing to 13 seconds.
Next to bridge the gap to the leaders was Marc O’Callaghan (Limerick CC) and with a good looking little group having formed out front and pulled out 19 seconds, the bunch kicked into action.
Riders launched themselves off the front of the main field, increasing the speed on the twisty roads leaving Gorey town as the gap came down and the men out front sat up knowing the game was up.
As the break was engulfed by the bunch, Marc McGavley (Mad MTB), Justus Ossege (Teambikeonline), Ciaran Kelly (Team Bikeworx) along with yesterday’s stage winner Darragh Zaidan (Adamstown CC) and GC leader Mark Reilly (LCRC) accelerated off the front, soon gaining a 50 metre advantage. The bunch reacted, and the break was short-lived.
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Carnew created quite the spectacle. The speed was now up, and the bunch descended through the town at 50mph. The group continued to let breaks get away before pulling them back. No move got further than 200 metres.
The only KOH of the day came at the 29 kilometres mark, with James Pittman (Cork County), Henry Cooke (Limerick-Munster) and Robin Seymour (Epic MTB-Expert) hoovering up the points.
Reilly continued to work away at the front of the bunch, covering moves and attacking relentlessly. He controlled the pace of the race, and the bunch remained together through Baltinglass, the finish line just over 30 kilometres away.
Attacks continued to form, but as the bunch stormed through Blessington, the sprinters began to position themselves for the inevitable bunch sprint.
LCRC’s John Priest had to be favourite to take the stage win, but visiting rider Martin Meschkat (Team Bikeonline) showed supreme strength, crossing the line in first place ahead of Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveys), JP Lyons (SDCC) with Priest fourth.
Reilly crossed the line in the bunch, knowing his hard work had paid off and he had won the final yellow. Zaidan retained the green points jersey, while Peter Kirwan (LCRC) held onto the polka dot jersey. Some 199 riders signed on for the event, with a staggering 71 pulling out.
The leaders before the start: Daniel Kirwan in the climbers' jersey, Reilly in yellow and stage 3 winner Darragh Zaidan in the green jersey (Photo: Amy-Norah Farrell)
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