Daire Feeley (Burren CC) collected another victory at the Lucan Grand Prix in Co Meath on Saturday but he and two others who pulled clear from the breakaway in the final were given a late scare in the last 500m.
Though they numbered three, suddenly the group became six as three chasers got back to them. And once the catch was made, having seemed very unlikely, Jason Kenny (UCD CC) let rip with a haymaker early sprint in the Lucan CRC promotion.
In the end, Feeley managed to come through the chaos, and overcame the rapid late change in race scenario, to win again after eight riders broke clear with over 80km remaining.
Racing in the Galway Classic tomorrow and the Bobby Power Memorial in Carrick-on-Suir on Monday, Feeley told stickybottle he was now determined to get in as much racing as possible, though had to bank "brownie points" first.
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"I have to go home and finish power washing a few sheds, and power washing the driveway, to get the brownie points to go racing," he joked.
However, at the end of today's contest, of just over 90km, there weren't too many jokes in the breakaway group as they had been out front - three minutes ahead of the peloton on the final lap - from very early.
Initially that group numbered eight: Conor Gath (Galway Bay CC), Feeley, Kenny, Johannes Rom Dahl (Roadman CC), Josh Callaly (Campana Imballaggi Geo&Tex Trentino), Paul Kennedy (Team Skyline), Ruairí Woods (Spellman Dublin Port) and Bren Broekaart (Challenge CC).
They motored clear on the opening 17km lap, of 5½, of the Dunsany course, though Gath was the first to pay for his efforts and lost his place up front. The others continued to ride strongly, though as the laps ticked down it was Broekaart who was next to be distanced.
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There were several efforts by chasers to get clear of the bunch in pursuit of the leaders, but it was clear from very early the breakaway was gone for the day. On the final lap, Feeley had several goes. He was reeled in by the group working behind him, by Kennedy marking him or Woods closing him down.
But deep into the final lap, it was Feeley, Callaly and Kennedy with got clear and distanced Dahl, Woods and Kenny. While they pulled out a gap of 20 seconds, they were looking at each other in the final 2km, allowing the chasers to catch them with 500m to go.
However, though that made the finish more interesting, Feeley was still 1st, Kennedy 2nd and Callaly 3rd; the trio who had pulled clear filling the podium positions.
"I gave it a few goes on the last lap, the boys kept responding to it," said Feeley. "And I just said to myself 'I'm gonna have to save myself and hope for the best in the sprint'.
"After winning it last year, I knew all I had to do was surf the wheels and leave it till as late as possible and then pulled the trigger and thankfully it paid off."
Though Kenny gave him a scare sprinting past with 500m to go, Feeley said he just about managed to use that to his advantage.
"He came past sprinting, but he didn't come past me full steam. And that allowed me to get on to him and all I needed was five seconds of recovery. The boys started sprinting at the base of the hill and I was saying to myself 'leave it late, leave it late'.
"I kept on looking up and as soon as I saw the flag I went for it and distanced them. I was hoping to get away by myself because I was unsure how I'd sprint. But I pulled it off so the legs are obviously there."
