Colm Cassidy raises his arms aloft after a hard-fought victory on a lightning fast stage one of the Suir Valley Three Day
By Jessica Lamb
Colm Cassidy led a Team Aquablue one-two into Clonmel on Saturday afternoon to take the 113km stage one of the Suir Valley Three Day.
Cassidy had been in the early break, going off the front before the first KOH at the 29km marker, and extending a lead of 30s over the main bunch to more than 3mins by the 3rd and final KOH.
Cassidy won that, beating Stata 3 Velo Revolution's Stephen Murray and Robin Garry from Team Isle Of Man, and powered away to win the sprint into town.
Teammate Sean Lacey, the 2007 Suir Valley winner, finished a close second, ahead of Murray, Team iTap's Daire Feeley, Garry and UCD CC's Eoin Morton.
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It was day of relentless racing with a tailwind ramping speeds over 50kph in the early part of the race as nine went off the front, including the winners.
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British team JLT Condor Cycles, distraught at missing the break, drove the peloton blisteringly hard to reel in the leaders, forcing the break to work hard and shredding the main bunch.
A big chasing bunch did break away late, with JLT's Ed Laverick and Dante Carpenter in it, but it was too little to late with the gap at around 27s on the line.
Cassidy now leads the general classification, mountains competition and points table, with second-placed Lacey to where the green jersey tomorrow and Team Asea's Chris Reilly getting a ride in the polka dot jersey.
August 1st to 3rd: Suir Valley Three Day
Stage 1, Clonmel-Mooncoin-Clonmel, 113.2k
Brief Results
1 Colm Cassidy Aquablue 2h33'49"
2 Sean Lacey Aquablue @05s
3 Stephen Murray Strata 3 Velo Revolution @9s
4 Daire Feeley Team iTap @16s
5 Robin Garry Team Isle Of Man (A3) @17s
6 Eoin Mortin UCD Cycling Club 2:34.15 26s
7 Robin Kelly Waterford Racing Team 'A' @ s/t
8 Dave McGowan Champion System/VCUK Racing 'A' @27s
9 Conor Hennebry Iverk Carrick Wheelers Team 'B' @29
10 Mark Power Dungarvan Cycling Club @30
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