The county men have been aggressive on the opening stage of the An Post Rás, with many on the attack and Eoin Morton taking the king of the mountains jersey. Above, Taco van der Hoom (Join-S de Rijke squad) takes the stage victory into Multyfarnham (Photo: Shane Stokes)
The opening stage of the An Post Rás was been won by one of the Dutch visitors, with Eoin Morton of the UCD-Fitzcycles.ie taking the king of the mountains jersey.
A 15-man group forged clear just as the field was entering the 19km finishing circuit in Multyfarnham, the final destination for the riders after a 144.6km stage that rolled out from Dublin Castle to Clonee, Co Meath, for the start proper.
From the late winning breakaway Taco van der Hoom (Join-S de Rijke squad) attacked on the run in to the finish and held them off for a great win.
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Dylan Kennett (New Zealand) was 2nd just behind him and Rasmus Mygind (Denmark Riwal Platform) was next to round out the podium.
The remainder of the breakaway came home just three seconds behind the stage winner, with Jack Wilson (An Post-Chainreaction) and Eddie Dunbar (Team Ireland) both in the escape.
Wilson took a fantastic 5th place on the stage, with Dunbar in 9th place.
How it happened
The riders rolled out of Dublin Castle at midday for a neutralised section out o Clonee, Co Meath, where the racing proper began after a 15km warm-up.
Ahead of them was a 144.6km battle to Multyfarnham, which hosted the national road championships the year before last.
The first hot spot sprint took place at Bohermeen after 38.5km with another at Kells just over 7km up the road where more bonus seconds were on offer.
There was then a cat 3 climb at Lough Crew, crested at the 54km marker, before the final hot spot sprint of the day at Multyfarnham and a 19km finishing circuit ending the stage.
The first to attack shortly after the start was Sean McKenna, the Aquablue man who is about to take a place with An Post-Chainreaction for the remainder of the season.
However he was pegged back and the following open section of the race also saw a number of others attempt to go clear only to be caught.
They included: Stephen Murray (Cork Strata3-Velorevolution), Noah Granigan (CCB Racing), Bryan McCrystal (Louth Asea Wheelworx), Patrick Lechner (Germany Stradalli Bike Aid) and Daire Feeley (Galway Team iTap).
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There was a big crash at about the 20km marker, with a large group of riders left to chase back on as a result of it.
With 47.7km covered in the first hour, Dylan Newbery (Australia Data) and Matteo Cigala (Cork Aquablue) broke clear heading towards Kells.
However, they were soon caught and at Bohermeen the sprint and bonus seconds went to Nicolas Vereecken (An Post Chainreaction) from team mate Emiel Wastyn, with Christopher McGlinchey (Ireland National Team) in 3rd and looking good for the home nation.
Shortly after that prime Sean Lacey (Cork Aquablue) and Eoin Morton (Dublin UCD Fitzcycles) broke clear and were joined by Saxon Irvine (Australia Data #3 Cisco Racing), Noah Granigan (USA CCB Racing), Daire Feeley (Galway Team iTap) and Robin Kelly (Waterford Racing Club).
But with just under 60km covered they were caught and then a number of others tried their luck including: Colm Cassidy (Galway iTap), Patrick Bosman (Austria Tirol), former race winner Clemens Fankhauser (Austria Tirol).
It was not until the only categorised climb of the day began to loom large in the riders’ minds – because of the classification jersey on offer to whomever took the prime – that the first real escape of this year’s Rás broke clear.
Eoin Morton (Dublin UCD Fitzcycles) and Bryan McCrystal (Louth Asea Wheelworx) were the first to take flight and they were joined by George Fowler (Britain NFTO Pro Cycling), Ronan McLaughlin (Ireland national team) and Sean Lacey (Cork Aquablue).
At the top of the climb with 87km covered, Morton took it from Fowler, McCrystal and McLaughlin with their lead now at about 45 seconds on the bunch as Eoin O’Connell (Kerry) and Daire Feeley (Galway iTap) tried to get across but were caught.
Patrick Gamper (Austria Tirol Cycling) and Marcus Christie (Louth Asea Wheelworx) were next to try and get across, as hailstones lashed the riders, and they succeeded, now making it seven up front in a tasty looking breakaway with the county men well represented.
And at Castlepollard with 108km covered the gap between the leaders and the bunch was 50 seconds, however as the ticker said 25kms to go up the road, the breakaway was caught, with JLT Condor, NFTO and Denmark’s Riwal Platform among those chasing.
Wouter Mol (Netherlands Join-S De Rijke) and Daire Feeley (Galway Team iTap) were next to attack up the road off the front of the bunch just inside the 20km to go point.
However, they were caught and as the opening stage of the race moved onto the finishing circuit things got interesting.
James Gullen (Britain Pedal Heaven) and Alexis Dulin (France AVC Aix en Provence) attacked up the road and pulled clear, and in the scatter after their strong move a 13-man chase group distance the bunch, which was now splitting.
And in the closing kilometres the chasers caught the leaders, leaving a 15-strong breakaway hurtling into the finish clear of the rest of the field.
And from that lead group Dutch rider Taco van der Hoom (Join-S de Rijke squad) attacked on the run in to the finish and held them off for a great win.
Dylan Kennett (New Zealand) was 2nd just behind him and Rasmus Mygind (Denmark Riwal Platform) was next to round out the podium.
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