Eventual stage winner, and now yellow jersey, Rowen Baker leads the breakaway on stage 1, saying they were all thinking of gaining time and got stuck into their task (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)
By Shane Stokes
The 2025 winner George Kimber may be missing from the team this time around but Cycling Club Isle of Man was immediately back on top of the leaderboard on stage one of the Rás Tailteann.
The 23-year-old Briton Rowen Baker, who is guesting with the team on a break from his usual Jakroo Handsling Racing team, immediately found success in his debut with the race.
It’s a dream beginning, and it sees him don the leader’s jersey in advance of Thursday’s stage two.
“It is great,” Baker told stickybottle at the stage finish in Kilmallock. “It is my first time doing the Rás and so it is really great on the first stage to be able to get the win and riding in yellow tomorrow.”
The 23 year old made his move around the halfway point of the 161.1km race from Portlaoise. Adam Lewis (USA: APS Pro Cycling) had gone over the top of the category three climb of Bollingbrook ahead of the Irish riders Liam Crowley (Ireland) and Willem O’Connor (Cork: O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and pressed on alone, with Baker, Ewan Mackie (Connacht: Cycling Connacht), Danylo Riwnyj (UK: Foran CT) all making their way across.
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There was a long way left to go but it proved to be the day’s key move.
“There were two third cat climbs back to back around 85k in. Over the top of the first one it was quite strung out,” he said. “I think Adam and Ewen were up the road at that point. I attacked over and Danny from Foran joined me shortly after.
“Over the top of the second one we then established a group of four. I saw we had a gap and then just pushed on, basically, all the way to the finish.”
Rowen Barker from the Isle of Man team wins stage 1 at Rás Tailteann after a four-man breakaway made it all the way (Photo: Toby Watson)
Behind, the peloton was in full pursuit mode. Incredibly, though, despite there being over 50 riders in that chase group, the 1’30 advantage the break had with 30km to go persisted until very late in the finale.
The final winning margin was 46 seconds, an incredible show of resilience and cooperation.
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“It was very hard with the headwind coming in, especially in the final 5K, but we just kept pulling through hard because we knew getting a minute on GC is very important coming into the rest of the stages,” he said.
“We all had GC in mind, so we worked really well together.”
Last year’s Rás champion Kimber is racing overseas with the French ESEG Douai team and so has not made the journey to this year’s race.
He guested last year with the Isle of Man squad, helping it pull off an incredible result. And while he is missing this time, Baker has immediately put his Rás companions in a very good place.
“There is certainly good morale knowing what the team did last year,” he said, speaking about the vibes.
“It’s not the same squad but we are a strong group of riders so we are just trying to follow up from last year. Getting a stage win to begin even if we don’t win the GC is still a good result for the team.”
Time bonuses mean that Baker is four seconds clear of Riwnyj heading into Thursday’s 192.7km race from Rathmore to Banteer.
Mackie is at five seconds, with Lewis at nine.
Thursday’s race is likely to be a much more difficult day in the saddle. It’s the longest leg of the race, and also features six climbs, including the category 2 Caha Pass Tunnel Road and Cougane Gap.
He’s both frank and very determined when asked what his chances are like on such terrain.
“As a heavier rider, not as good, but I still back myself,” he said. “The climbs are not that steep tomorrow, stage four will be the real test. But I back myself tomorrow to keep the time gaps together and to hold yellow.”
Having a decent buffer over the majority of the peloton will help, but the three riders who were clear with him on Wednesday will try to exploit any slipups and to pounce.
