Jack Sadler (Munster Sesna) takes today's stage 4 of the Junior Tour ahead of the NRPT duo of Owen Gillot and Mark Downey (Photo: Adrian O'Connor www.blackumbrellaphotography.com)
Brian Canty
Jack Sadler took his tally of Junior Tour stage wins to three this afternoon when he charged home for victory at the head of a depleted peloton of 35 riders on stage 4 into Ennis.
Sadler adds that win to his stage 2 triumph on Wednesday, and he also took a bunch finish stage win in last year’s race when riding as a first year junior.
However, yesterday’s stage winner Eddie Dunbar – who has been the man of the race so far – maintained his commanding overall lead of 2:18 on stage 1 winner Mark Downey (NRPT Standard Life – www.radii.ie).
And with Dunbar’s Stena Ireland team riding very strongly today when it mattered most, with two stages remaining it looks like the race is very much the impressive Dunbar’s to lose.
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A hefty group slipped up the rode early on and had a number of well-placed GC riders in there; Sean Hahessy (Munster Sensa), Traca Baptiste (Pole Espoir de Caen), birthday boy Cian Dwyer (Munster Sensa), Jason Prendergast (Munster Sensa) and Thomas Fallon (Stena Ireland).
Though Fallon wasn’t obliged to work as he is Dunbar’s teammate, the break worked ferociously hard over the day’s six climbs and at one stage Dunbar had lost the jersey as the margin stretched to over 2.30.
However, thanks to the superb riding from Dylan Foley and Dunbar himself, the Irish team reeled in the break in the nick of time.
Having lost Matt Doyle to injury already this week, the Irish team were ripe for attacks all day today, and the aforementioned Prendergast – a brother of well known Charlie Prendergast of Polygon Sweet Nice - initiated the move and hauled a big group away with him very early in the stage.
There were climbs today at kilometre 17, 46, 53, 62, 66 and 80, and with temperatures tipping 20 degrees for much of the afternoon it’s a testament to Foley and Dunbar that they pulled back a break that had so many strong men in it.
Dunbar is bound to be feeling the effects of a gruelling few days already but there’s another tester tomorrow as the race travels south west towards Clarecastle, Kilrush and Kilmihil before finishing in Cooraclare.
One of the toughest stages in recent times of the An Post Rás took to these roads in 2011 - a stage won by Gediminas Bagdonas - but not before they faced cruel headwinds for almost five hours.
Though tomorrow’s stage of the Junior Tour is just over half the distance, it’ll be no less punishing for a peloton with so many strong riders capable to doing damage.
The bunch finish nature of today’s race perhaps conceals the aggressive nature of the riding, with two breakaways merging up the road and at one point gaining that maximum gap of around 2:30.
There followed a furious chase in the peloton that ultimately brought the race back together by the finish, but not before Matthew Taggert took off and imposed himself in an impressive all-out assault in an effort to take the climbers’ jersey.
Today’s stage was a trek of 109km starting and finishing in Ennis. It was the queen stage as there were six climbs – four cat 3 ascents and one cat 1 and a cat 2.
The racing was very aggressive from the gun with seven riders going clear shortly after the start, the bravest of the riders clearly not deterred by the hard road set out before them.
And when that escape reached the first climb of the day – the cat 3 ascent just past Killinaboy at the 18km mark it was Thomas Fallon who was first over the top collecting the maximum points on offer.
With almost 30kms to go until the riders faced the second of the days six categorised climbs near Fanore, the breakaway continued to ride up the road and an eight-man chase group got clear of the bunch.
That group caught the seven up front to form a dangerous large breakaway of 15 riders with around 45km covered. Those riders had a gap of just over two minutes over the peloton as the lumpy second half of the stage - with five climbs remaining – was about to start.
However, before the second climb near Fanore was even reached, Matthew Teggart (NRPT Standard Life – www.radii.ie) was clearly feeling strong and he took off with Traca Baptiste, the French rider with Espoir de Caen who was wearing the climbers’ classification leader’s jersey.
That duo quickly built a lead of just under 30 seconds on the escape group they had just left, with the bunch now 2:15 back.
Taggert put in a really strong performance, claiming maximum points on all five climbs as he and Baptiste had a ding dong head to head battle for that climbers' jersey at the head of the race.
However, clearly content at setting Sadler up for the stage win and on protecting Eddie Dunbar’s yellow jersey, Sadler’s Munster team and Dunbar’s Stena-Ireland team - albeit made up of Dunbar and Foley only in the bunch - went to the front of the peloton and reeled in all of those riders up the road to set it up for a bunch finish.
Sadler romped home with riders for the NRPT filling the next two places, their Australian guest rider Owen Gillot in second place and stage 1 winner Mark Downey in third place.
Friday July 5th: Stage 2 Ennis-Ennis 110km
1 Sadler,Jack MI Munster Sensa 1 2h46'25"
2 Gillott,Owen NRP NRPT Standard Life2
3 Downey,Mark STA NRPT Standard Life1
4 Rooij,Paul AMS Cycling Amsterdam
5 Franklin,Harry VER Devere Cycles
6 Lewis,Adam TRE Bike Treks
7 van Brussel,Chris TEM TempoBruns Veldhoven
8 Dunbar,Eddie IRL Stena Ireland
9 Fallon,Thomas IRL Stena Ireland
10 Ryan,Fintan STA NRPT Standard Life1
11 Thomas,Waree POL Pole Espoir de Caen
12 Benoit,Cosnefroy POL Pole Espoir de Caen
13 Kirkham,Joe VER Devere Cycles
14 van Empel,Justin TEM TempoBruns Veldhoven
15 Campbell,Ciaran LEN Cycling Leinster
16 Schumacher,Laurens AMS Cycling Amsterdam
17 McCauley,Craig ULS Cycling Ulster
18 Cooke,Henry MI Munster Sensa 1
19 Teggart,Matthew STA NRPT Standard Life1
20 Shanahan,Stephen MI Munster Sensa 1
21 Knox,James VER Devere Cycles
22 Hetherington,Ben DRT Dirt Wheels
23 Traca,Batiste POL Pole Espoir de Caen
24 Cowen,Jake TRE Bike Treks
25 Debieu,Leo POL Pole Espoir de Caen
26 Leigh,Andy VER Devere Cycles
27 Bruton,Danny NRP NRPT Standard Life2
28 Foley,Dylan IRL Stena Ireland
29 Arrigon,Craig LEN Cycling Leinster
30 Hahessy,Sean M2 Munster Sensa 2
31 McBride,Aaron NP North Pole
32 Jeuken,Chris MUN Munster
33 Reid,Declan ULS Cycling Ulster
34 Bailey,Darragh DD Donamon Dynamos
35 Fyffe,Angus ULS Cycling Ulster
36 O'Brien,Dylan MI Munster Sensa 1@09"
37 Dwyer,Cian M2 Munster Sensa 2 @ s/t
38 Coen,Cale CAS Castlebar @ s/t
39 Heneghan,Kieran WES Western Lakes @12"
40 McCarthy,David NRP NRPT Standard Life2 @13"
41 Gilmore,Curtis ULS Cycling Ulster @40"
42 Prendergast,Jason MUN Munster
43 Valognes,Quentin USA Novo Nordisk USA@06'31"
44 Verbeek,Robin TEM TempoBruns Veldhoven @ s/t
45 Lutjens,Job AMS Cycling Amsterdam @ s/t
46 O'Callaghan,Mark M2 Munster Sensa 2 @ s/t
47 Campbell,Darragh USA Novo Nordisk USA @ s/t
48 Whelan,Jack LEN Cycling Leinster @ s/t
49 Lynch,Eoin DEV Leinster Development @ s/t
50 Feeley,Daire DD Donamon Dynamos @ s/t
51 Walsh,Thomas CAS Castlebar @ s/t
52 O'Brien,Graham DD Donamon Dynamos @ s/t
53 Clarke,Anthony BWW Bray Whls @ s/t
54 Trihy,Conor M2 Munster Sensa 2 @06'40"
55 Long,Darragh STA NRPT Standard Life1 @09'39"
56 Corcoran,Liam NRP NRPT Standard Life2 @ s/t
57 Moran,Gary CAS Castlebar @ s/t
58 Brady,David CAS Castlebar @ s/t
59 Hayes,Corey MUN Munster @ s/t
60 Hyland,Paul MD Munster Development @13'40"
61 McQuerry,Justin USA Novo Nordisk USA @ s/t
62 Farrell,Cian DEV Leinster Development @ s/t
63 Dunne,Niall og MD Munster Development @ s/t
64 Dunne,Ben TUL Tullamore CC @ s/t
65 Alexander,Gavin USA Novo Nordisk USA @ s/t
66 Mahony,Calum MD Munster Development @17'07"
67 Flood,Jordan DEV Leinster Development @ s/t
68 McAllister,Sam DEV Leinster Development @ s/t
69 Moriarty,Michael MD Munster Development @ s/t
General Classification
Related News
1 Dunbar,Eddie Y1 Stena Ireland 8h32'50"
2 Downey,Mark Y1 NRPT Standard Li @02'18"
3 Fallon,Thomas 2 Stena Ireland @02'25"
4 Foley,Dylan 2 Stena Ireland @02'26"
5 Hetherington,Ben 2 Dirt Wheels @02'34"
6 Traca,Batiste 2 Pole Espoir de C @02'35"
7 Gillott,Owen 2 NRPT Standard Li @02'43"
8 Shanahan,Stephen Y1 Munster Sensa 1 @02'46"
9 Hahessy,Sean 2 Munster Sensa 2 @02'47"
10 Leigh,Andy 2 Devere Cycles @02'49"
11 Knox,James 2 Devere Cycles @03'13"
12 Franklin,Harry 2 Devere Cycles @03'15"
13 Sadler,Jack 2 Munster Sensa 1 @03'16"
14 Cooke,Henry Y1 Munster Sensa 1 @03'21"
15 Cowen,Jake 2 Bike Treks @03'22"
16 Lewis,Adam 2 Bike Treks @03'23"
17 Bruton,Danny 2 NRPT Standard Li @03'29"
18 Teggart,Matthew Y1 NRPT Standard Li @03'37"
19 McCauley,Craig Y1 Cycling Ulster = s/t
20 Jeuken,Chris 2 Munster @03'43"
21 Fyffe,Angus 2 Cycling Ulster @03'45"
22 Bailey,Darragh Y1 Donamon Dynamos @03'46"
23 Debieu,Leo Y1 Pole Espoir de C @03'48"
24 McBride,Aaron 2 North Pole @03'52"
25 Arrigon,Craig 2 Cycling Leinster @04'04"
26 Campbell,Ciaran 2 Cycling Leinster @04'06"
27 van Brussel,Chris 2 TempoBruns Veldh @04'21"
28 Reid,Declan 2 Cycling Ulster @04'38"
29 Gilmore,Curtis 2 Cycling Ulster @04'59"
30 Kirkham,Joe 2 Devere Cycles @06'08"
31 Heneghan,Kieran 2 Western Lakes @07'19"
32 Benoit,Cosnefroy 2 Pole Espoir de C @09'16"
33 Valognes,Quentin Y1 Novo Nordisk USA @09'43"
34 Coen,Cale Y1 Castlebar @09'59"
35 van Empel,Justin 2 TempoBruns Veldh @10'25"
36 Rooij,Paul 2 Cycling Amsterda @10'46"
37 O'Callaghan,Mark Y1 Munster Sensa 2 @10'51"
38 McCarthy,David 2 NRPT Standard Li @11'10"
39 Schumacher,Laurens 2 Cycling Amsterda @11'12"
40 Lutjens,Job 2 Cycling Amsterda @17'00"
41 Campbell,Darragh 1 Novo Nordisk USA @17'13"
42 Prendergast,Jason 2 Munster @17'15"
43 Long,Darragh Y1 NRPT Standard Li @20'11"
44 Whelan,Jack 2 Cycling Leinster @20'58"
45 O'Brien,Dylan Y1 Munster Sensa 1 @21'19"
46 Feeley,Daire Y1 Donamon Dynamos @22'39"
47 Thomas,Waree Y1 Pole Espoir de C @23'38"
48 Ryan,Fintan Y1 NRPT Standard Li @26'25"
49 Dwyer,Cian 2 Munster Sensa 2 @27'21"
50 Verbeek,Robin 2 TempoBruns Veldh@30'16"
51 Walsh,Thomas 2 Castlebar @34'16"
52 Lynch,Eoin 2 Leinster Develop @35'40"
53 Moran,Gary Y1 Castlebar @36'04"
54 Hyland,Paul 2 Munster Developm @37'58"
55 Brady,David Y1 Castlebar @38'14"
56 Clarke,Anthony Y1 Bray Whls @40'17"
57 Dunne,Niall og Y1 Munster Developm @49'49"
58 Corcoran,Liam 2 NRPT Standard Li @50'46"
59 Hayes,Corey Y1 Munster @53'58"
60 O'Brien,Graham Y1 Donamon Dynamos@54'22"
61 McQuerry,Justin 2 Novo Nordisk USA @55'45"
62 Trihy,Conor 2 Munster Sensa 2 @56'13"
63 Farrell,Cian Y1 Leinster Develop@57'59"
64 Moriarty,Michael 2 Munster Developm@1h01'25"
65 McAllister,Sam Y1 Leinster Develop @1h02'15"
66 Dunne,Ben Y1 Tullamore CC @1h06'22"
67 Mahony,Calum 2 Munster Developm @1h07'32"
68 Flood,Jordan 2 Leinster Develop @1h07'59"
69 Alexander,Gavin Y1 Novo Nordisk USA @1h09'08"
Mountains Competition
1 Traca,B POL 42
2 Dunbar,E IRL 35
3 Teggart,M STA 30
4 Fallon,T IRL 21
5 Benoit,C POL 15
6 'Brien,D MI 12
First Year Junior Overall
1 Dunbar,E IRL = 8h32'50"
2 Downey,M STA @ 02'18"
3 Shanahan,S MI @ 02'46"
4 Cooke,H MI @ 03'21"
5 Teggart,M STA @ 03'37"
6 McCauley,C ULS @ 03'37"
7 Bailey,D DD @ 03'46"
8 Debieu,L POL @ 03'48"
9 Valognes,Q USA @ 09'43"
10 Coen,C CAS @ 09'59"
Points Competition
1 Franklin, H DeVer Cycles 36
2 Sadler, J Munster Sensa 33
3 Gillott, O NRPT Standard Life 32
4 Fallon, T Stena Line Ireland 28
5 Lewis, A Bike Treks 27
6 Dunbar, E Stena Line Ireland 23
7 Van Brussel, C Temp Bruns Veld 22
