Patrick Coleman of Kia motors presents Adam Lewis of USA: APS Pro Cycling team with the Kia Motors race leader's jersey (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
By Shane Stokes
Irish rider Conn McDunphy was active in the finale of stage 2 of the Rás Tailteann, and eventually got third on the stage. His prospects would likely have been better had he conserved more energy, but he had another big reason to work: putting his USA: APS Pro Cycling teammate Adam Lewis into the race lead.
Lewis finished as part of Wednesday’s four-man break and was the best-placed of the six riders who pushed ahead of a larger group inside the final 10km.
He rolled in fourth on the stage and jumped into race lead. That left him beaming and, it appeared, a little bit shocked at the finish.
“I don’t really know how it happened, to be honest,” he said. “I said yesterday that it always pays to be aggressive in this race and what we did in the last hour of the race today was aggressive.
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“Eventually the elastic snapped with about 35K to go and we got a good group away. It kind of split in half again coming to the finish here. Luckily I was on the right side of it and managed to gap the other GC guys, so into the lead.”
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It’s quite the career moment for him too. “It’s my first yellow jersey,” he said. “It is pretty special.”
Lining out in that on Friday will be a very memorable time, plus an emotional one.
“I am sure there will be some nerves about. But I think we have a got a really strong team here so we can go with the ambition of trying to defend,” he said. “We also want to come away with a stage win, so three more days to do it.”
What helps is that teammate McDunphy also made the same split, helping to drive the break on and to increase the lead over those who had missed the move.
“It was definitely a help,” Lewis said of that collaboration. “And he is still up there on GC as well, so we have got two cards to pay for the rest of the week. I think is a big advantage in this race with the unpredictability of it.”
McDunphy is sitting fifth overall, 44 seconds behind Lewis and ready to play his card if the race circumstances make that the most tactical approach.
