Chris McGlinchey has said winning the opening stage of Rás Mumhan left him "ecstatic" (Photo: Toby Watson)
By Brian Canty
Christopher McGlinchey is tonight savouring the best moment of his cycling career after winning the opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.
The Belfast man (21), riding for the Irish Development Team, galloped up the hill in Killorglin this evening at the head of a nine-man break that incredibly, contained three of his teammates.
It was theirs to lose with such a presence but McGlinchey made sure of the win with a truly brilliant piece of riding.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” he said. “To nail the race plan like we did, take the win and a couple of jerseys is just incredible. I’m lost for words.
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“It’s definitely the best moment of my road career anyway,” he added.
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McGlinchey was first over the line but also there were the flying Darragh O’Mahony – still a first-year espoir, Craig Macaulay and Ian Richardson.
“The plan was to make the break and go for the stage win but when we realised we had a perfect break and everyone was willing to work we started to just ride as hard as we could and get as much time as possible on the chasers.
“You cannot win this race on the first day but you can lose it and we all knew that; we just worked well together when we got away,” he explained.
A few kilometres from the line, with the dramatically reduced front bunch down to just 60 men, McGlinchey began to think of how he could win.
“I just sat on and kept myself fresh for it,” he said. “There were some strong guys there so I wasn’t foolish enough to think I’d have it easy.
“But I just timed my effort right and it was just a feeling you cannot get anywhere else.”
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