Hat trick of stage wins seals Connemara GC for Sherlock; now looks to An Post Ras

Sherlock stakes stage 3 to wrap up the GC win (Photo: Michelle McCarron www.michellemccarron.com )

Ryan Sherlock consolidated his GC lead on the ‘Connemara Bog Week Two Day’ in Tullycross today, Sunday, when he took the morning time trial and the afternoon road stage to add to his stage victory on Saturday.

The Cycleways rider was heavily marked throughout the three stages. But with some very undulating roads and block headwinds for the riders to contend with, he was able to bring his power to the fore and take the overall victory.

At some points today the riders were down to 18kph into sustained strong head winds.

Sherlock said he was very pleased to have won all three stages, adding the handicapped nature of the road stages made for some interesting racing that he feels will grow in popularity.

“It was strange starting off today with the A3 group getting a handicap of 3:30,” he said.

“It meant that even though I had the lead and I’d won the first two stages, I was about 2:30 behind the virtual yellow on the road before I’d even started today. And then you have guys back in your group who are team mates of the people up the road who are now close to you on GC so they won’t ride. It was odd, but it was really good racing.”

“I wasn’t too concerned about the stage win at all today. I just wanted to make sure the GC was looked after and thankfully it all worked out well.”

Heading into today’s final stage, himself and Padraig Marrey of promoting club Western Lakes CC were first and second on GC. The duo had filled those positions in this morning’s time trial.

And with Marrey very strong on the opening stage won by Sherlock on Saturday, it looked certain they would both be the men to watch this afternoon. And so it proved.

The work rate in the scratch group was so patchy in the early part of the stage this afternoon that the limit riders actually extended their lead. However, once the attacking started in scratch it was Sherlock and Marrey who did much of the damage.

However, the A1/A2 group was determined not to let them go. And it was not until the 25km to go mark that Sherlock made a decisive attack only to be joined by Marrey.

The strong pair then took about 5km to close up to the A3s ahead, and worked with some of them for the next 5km or so.

At the top of the KOH with 15km to go they attacked the A3s and got clear, with Sherlock having too much for Marrey at the finish in Tullycross, taking the stage win ahead of the local man.

The Cycleways rider said while he had been sick with a cold and bronchitis after his final-stage loss of the GC at the ‘Kerry Group Ras Mumhan’ at Easter, he felt that bout of illness may have actually benefited him in forcing him to take a rest.

His thoughts are now firmly set on the An Post Ras in three weeks.

“A stage win in the Ras I think will be very hard to get. But it is possible. The stages in Donegal look nice and it’s a route that suits me, I would have to say that. But a lot will depend on the first few days. If I was still up on GC I would play it a little differently. It’s the kind of race that you have to treat as eight one-day classics. Anything can happen really. But I think I am capable of doing a ride in it. We will just have to see how it goes though.”

The race director in Connemara this weekend was JJ Flaherty, with the racing promoted by Western Lakes CC. The event was sponsored by The Renvyle Inn, Togan’s Gala and Renvyle House Hotel.

Results Stage 2b 54 miles (Sunday afternoon)

1st Ryan Sherlock Cycleways 2.23.50
2nd Padraig Marrey Western Lakes CC @1”
3rd Peter Touhy Castlebar CC @1.11
4th Michael Gilvarry Western Lakes [email protected]
5th Ger Corcocan Westport @1.18
6th Liam Frawley Galway Bay CC @1.18

Final Overall of Bog week 2 day

1st Ryan Sherlock Cycleways
2nd Padraig Marrey Western Lakes [email protected]
3rd Liam Frawley Galway Bay CC @2.19
4th David Walsh Slaney CC @2.24
5th David Brennan @2.33
6th Daniel Kirwan Lucan RC @2.39

Stage 2 TT result (Sunday morning)

1st Ryan Sherlock Cycleways 7.08
2nd Padraig Marrey Western Lakes CC 7.39
3rd Dave Walsh Slaney CC 7.41
4th David Brennan Castlebar CC 7.48
5th Daniel Kirwan Lucan RC 7.54
6th Ger Corcoran Westport 8.02

Results Stage one 48miles (Saturday afternoon)

1st Ryan Sherlock Cycleways 1.54.42
2nd Liam Frawley Galway Bay CC @3”
3rd Donnacha O Brien Cork County @11”
4th David Walsh Slaney CC@32”
5th Padraig Marrey Western Lakes CC @32”
6th Michael Brady Covey Westport @32”