A hugely popular competitor and always honest; Bryan McCrystal went so close today to a very big prize indeed - the Rás yellow jersey. He tells us how it felt (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
Needing only 23 seconds to gain the Rás yellow jersey on stage 2 into Charleville on Monday, Bryan McCrystal broke clear with Eoin Morton and took a maximum of seven minutes out of the bunch.
And when they had well over one minute in hand with just a few kilometres to go, he looked like he was riding into yellow.
However, with Louth ASEA-Wheelworx man McCrystal and his UCD-Fitzcycles.ie fellow escapee having been clear for so long on the longest stage of the race, the gap plummeted just before the finish.
In the end there was only seven seconds between McCrystal and the group behind containing yellow jersey Taco van der Hoorn (Join-S De Rijke).
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It meant McCrystal fell short of his target, just as he had done in stage 2 last year when he was going for the stage win solo into Tipperary.
And with Morton sailing across the finish line arms aloft in victory four seconds ahead of him today, he was forced to settle for 2nd on the day and a move up the general standings from 57th to 14th.
We caught up with him at the finish for this interview:
Bryan McCrystal on a day of Rás highs and lows
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