David Watson in yellow at thrilling Tour of North; equal on time with Ronan McLaughlin

The man who started the season as an A4, Christopher McGlinchey in yellow at the Tour of the North. He won this morning's time trial but then lost the race lead in the afternoon stage, above (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)

By Brian Canty

David Watson and Ronan McLaughlin are the new joint race leaders of the Tour of the North going into tomorrow’s concluding stage after a thrilling day’s action today.

Watson of North Down and McLaughlin of Team ASEA have a slim lead over a tightly congested top 10, with just 14 seconds separating that number of riders.

Watson leads the way courtesy of higher stage placings so far, with his fifth place in this morning’s time-trial and fourth in this afternoon’s road stage enough to have him in yellow.

Interestingly, Watson was the third rider to wear the yellow jersey today, with Garth McKhee starting the day in the lead courtesy of yesterday’s stage win on the opening day.

But following this morning’s time-trial he would lose it to rising star Christopher McGlinchey of Ballymena CC who won in a blistering time of 4.57.06 for the 4.18 kilometre test.

David Watson now leads the Tour of the North. He has been flying this seaon but this would be a massive win for him (Photo courtesy of North Down CC)

But he too would lose the jersey this afternoon, with David Watson now the man they must all beat.

Today’s afternoon stage took the riders over four laps of a 15-kilometre circuit with a climbers’ prime on the first and third laps.

Following that the riders would race a longer loop which featured a category two climb 10 kilometres from the finish.

The stage was fast and aggressive with plenty groups moving off the front.

Ronan McLaughlin (Team ASEA), Paul McCarter (Omagh Wheelers) and Jack Waller of Spirit Bikes went clear early on and they were later joined Mike Millar (Phoenix CC), Neil Delahaye (Team ASEA), and Chris Rea (Phoenix CC) among others.

Ronan McLaughlin in the climbers' jersey during this afternoon's road stage. He is now equal on time with Watson in the general standings (Photo: Marian Lamb - Cycling Ulster)

That group swelled further when McGlinchey (Ballymena), Ross Clarke (Pro Vision), Fergus Rooney (Phoenix CC) and David Watson of North Down CC all merged, pulling out a lead of over a minute on the bunch behind.

As the kilometres clicked down, the bunch began to make inroads on the break's lead, with Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles), Mark Downey (Ballymena CC) and Gareth McKee (BanbridgeCC) making good gains.

Coming towards the line, Jack Waller (Spirit Bikes) and Karl Morgan of Phoenix CC jumped clear and held on; Waller taking the win.

The twelve man chasing group came in a further 10 seconds down and with Watson in there, he took the yellow jersey.

Tomorrow's final stage is 115 kilometres in length and features two climbs, a category two and a category one. So it’s still very much all to play for.