The Charleville Two Day was dominated by one rider; Hugh Óg Mulhearne. Competing this year for French team, AS Villemur Cyclisme, Mulhearne (17) was guesting for his home club Panduit Carrick Wheelers. He produced runaway performances on the two road stages, winning both.
Two U23 riders - Ben Murphy (O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and Ewan Buckley (Killarney Cycling Club) - really put it up to Mulhearne on Sunday's final stage, making him work for his win every inch of the way.
However, Mulhearne has not long returned from racing in France, where his schedule has included UCI-ranked events. That stint has clearly brought him on a level, which he showcased in Charleville.
His winning performances came just two days before being confirmed on the Irish junior team for the European Road Championships in France next month.
Advertisement
Sodden stage 1
The opening stage of three, on Saturday, was 95km and involved three laps of a rolly circuit, including a small climb with about 6km to go - in very wet conditions.
About 30km into the stage, Mulhearne attacked on a hard short climb and managed to get clear on his own. He rode solo for about 10-15km and during that time a chasing group formed behind him, as he opened his gap to about 30 seconds.
The group behind got across to him and numbered eight riders, including Tim O'Regan (All human-VeloRevolution), Jack Lawless, (Gorey Cycling Club), Jamie Byrne (Carlow RCC), Ben Murphy (O'Leary Stone Kanturk), Ciaran O'Sullivan (Greenmount CA) and others.
They rode as a group for about a lap before Mulhearne attacked, with Lawless and Byrne going with him. They got down to work in trying to open a gap on the chasers. Mulheane then attacked on the final climb with about 10km to go and pulled out an advantage of about 30 seconds.
Though the gap didn't get any bigger for a while, Mulhearne redoubled his efforts up front in the last 3km to ride solo to the line, winning the stage by 55 seconds from Lawless, with Byrne 3rd at 57 seconds.
Then came another small group comprised of some of those from the breakaway - Murphy, O'Regan and O'Sullivan - taking places 4th, 5th and 6th some 2:42 down on winner Mulhearne. The bunch was 3:49 down.
Stage 2 TT | Lawless dominates
In the Saturday evening TT, Jack Lawless (Gorey Cycling Club) was fastest over the 6.1km distance, all of it into a headwind. He claimed the victory, by 14.6 seconds, from Charlie Kelly (Connacht Cycling Team), with Marcus Flavin (Dungarvan CC) rounding out the top three, at 16.6 seconds.
Race leader, Mulhearne, took 4th place at 17.6 seconds, with Ben Murphy (O'Leary Stone Kanturk) in 5th at 20.8 seconds and John O'Mahony (Newcastle West CC) rounding out the top six at 21.2 seconds.
Related News
An error with the TT stage results - which was no fault of race organisers Charleville CC - prevents us, at the time of writing, from bringing you a complete general classification after stage 2. However, in the top three, Mulhearne led the way from Lawless by 37 seconds with Byrne 3rd at 1:38.
That meant while Mulhearne was clearly in the driving seat going into the final stage on Sunday, Lawless was definitely within striking distance of him.
And, as ever, the yellow jersey had to be attentive to ensure no slip-ups in the shape of a breakaway going clear without him and riding away with it.
Stage 3 | Aggressive leader chased all the way
In the early phase of Sunday's stage - 91km including two local laps with a 5km climb at Ballyhoura - Carrick Wheelers decided to send a man up the road, Martin O'Loughlin, in the hope Mulhearne could get across to the move later.
When the leaders reached the climb for the first time, they had over 1:30 on the bunch. Mulhearne made his move and got across to the leaders solo about 1km from the top, though Lawless had also attacked behind and was chasing hard.
Once he had caught the breakaway, the yellow jerseyed Mulhearne went to the front and put in a big turn, trimming down the breakaway, and also ensuring Lawless did not see the front of the race again.
The leaders worked together for another passage of the 20km local lap. Mulhearne attacked hard again on reaching the base of the 5km climb for the second and final time. He had about 40 seconds at the top, took in the easy down the descent and then turned left for the last 20km or so to the finish into a headwind.
Behind him, Ben Murphy (O'Leary Stone Kanturk) and Ewan Buckley (Killarney CC) had been giving a good account of themselves through the final stage. They proved strongest of the riders who had been in the early breakaway that Mulhearne had got across to solo.
Though Mulhearne won the stage, Murphy and Buckley put it up to him - working together into the headwind and never throwing the towel in. They were 2nd and 3rd, and just eight seconds and 15 seconds down on the line; making Mulhearne fight all the way to the finish for his win.
Next on the road, in a group of six, were the others who had been on the attack, taking placings 4th through 8th at 1:35.
They were, in finishing order: Charlie Kelly (Connacht Cycling), John O’Mahony (Newcastle West Cycling Club), Colin Sheehan (O’Leary Stone Kanturk), Marcus Flavin (Dungarvan CC) and Tim O’Regan (All human-VeloRevolution).
Two of the riders who missed out were Lawless and Byrne, who had gone into the stage 2nd and 3rd overall, at 37 seconds and 1:38 respectively. They finished stage 3 in a group at 2:40, meaning Mulhearne ran out the very clear winner overall.
Indeed, Kanturk's Murphy gained so much time in finishing 2nd on stage 3 that he jumped to 2nd in the final general classification, some 2:53 down. Then came Gorey's TT stage winner, Lawless, 3rd overall at 3:17.
Carlow's Byrne was 4th at 4:18 and Kelly of Connacht at 4:51, in 5th and equal on time with 6th placed Buckley. O'Regan was 7th at 5:04, with Flavin in 8th, at 5:23. Newcastle's O'Mahony was 9th at 5:27 and Greenmount's O'Sullivan rounded out the top 10 at 5:59.
