The image that shows you how commercially valuable success in the Rás can be even for major brands (Photo with thanks to Vitus & Chainreactioncycles.com)
The An Post-Chainreaction riders have had a great Rás so far; taking yesterday's stage into Newport with Aidis Kruopis and Monday's stage 2 into Tipperary with Kiwi Aaron Gate.
One of two Irish riders on the team in the race, Ryan Mullen is 4th overall at the halfway point and he is also leading the U23 classification, with the team leading the international team standings.
But while the success has obviously seen the team on a high at the race, it's not simply about personal satisfaction for the riders.
The squad is obviously backed by Chainreactioncycles.com. And with that company owning the Vitus bikes brand, the team is riding those mounts.
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Within hours of Gate winning stage 2, the company had sourced the image in the advert above from photographer Karen Edwards who is on the race.
They quickly turned it into an advert, which has been sprayed around the internet via their social media accounts.
It just goes to show that though the Rás is a smaller race in the context of global pro cycling, there are clear commercial benefits when riders are successful.
And even companies as big as Chainreactioncycles.com - which claims it is the largest online cycling retailer in the world - are very quick to move in and exploit that success.
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The An Post-Chainreaction team at first committed a couple of its riders on the front of the chase group that caught the break on yesterday's stage 4. But a little further down the road four of the five drove the group hard (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
Yesterday the team had all five riders up the road, with Ryan Mullen telling this morning's Irish Independent how crucial that was.
“We let the breaks go early on, knowing we'd reel them in in the crosswinds," Mullen told the newspaper.
"That's when the race just blew apart. We went to the right-hand side of the road and just whacked it as a team.
“We looked aback after about 20km and there were about six groups on the road, so we kept going until some more damage was done."
"I've got a three-minute advantage in the U-23 jersey now but it's still only halfway through the race so I've just got to take it day by day.
“I came here to win stages and thought the GC would be out the window for me, but it's going well."
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