The racing at Rás Mumhan has been stopped after the field and cavalcade went significantly off course. Above, Martyn Irvine riding in the colours of the Ireland team during yesterday's stage 2 (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
With the opening two stages having finished in sprints from large groups won by yellow jersey Paidi O’Brien, fireworks were expected on today’s stage 3 at Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.
It included the cat 1 Coomanaspic with 35 kilometres remaining; a climb that split the An Post Rás to pieces when that race tackled it last year.
However, today’s stage was eventful for the wrong reasons starting out this morning when the riders were taken the wrong way.
The vehicles leading the race went onto the wrong course, missing a turn around 5km after the start in Waterville and going straight instead.
Advertisement
The action then continued for between 10 to 15km before the mistake was called and the race stopped.
By that stage an 11-man escape had gone clear, with a chase group just behind and the bunch just behind it; all of the racers covered by relatively small time gaps.
Related News
The organisers then took the whole field back down the road they had just ridden and back onto the course proper.
The action was restarted, with the breakaway allowed the same gap they enjoyed when the action was halted.
A general regrouping followed before the action continued from a full peloton.
It was an unfortunate error, but one which can happen in bike racing.
And the fact it occurred on Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, which is one of the best organised and best planned races in the country, shows errors can creep into any event.
But thankfully the mistake was corrected and there were no safety issues. We’ll have reports on all the action later.
Topics
