Javan Nulty takes second win of weekend as he proves strongest in Rás Mhaigheo

Javan Nulty takes a clear victory as the breakaway sprints to the line in Rás Mhaigheo in Westport (Photo: Oliver R Whyte)

Having opened his account for 2013 with a strong win in Co Tyrone on Saturday, DID Dunboyne’s Javan Nulty has not wasted much time in adding to his palmares, sprinting to another good win today; this time in Co Mayo.

He was by far the fastest of the breakaway that contested the closing sprint in Westport for victory in Rás Mhaigheo after 88kms in wet and breezy conditions.

Nulty made no mistake once he got a glimpse of the chequered flag, putting considerable distance between himself and Joe Christian (Bray Wheelers) in second place, with Paddy Clarke (Castlebar) a little further back in third.

Some 65 riders took to the start line for the main event which catered for A1, A2 and A3 riders. The A3s were given a generous handicap of four minutes on the combined A1/A2 scratch group. However, with three categorised climbs in store on what was a lumpy course, it always looked certain the A3s would not last out front all the way.

The riders first headed for Leenane village and up the first climb, before contesting the second ascent at Aille Dubh and the third over Maam Trasna. They then faced the relatively flat run into the finish outside the train station on the Ballinrobe road in Westport.

The two groups were to merge as the race tackled the second of the three climbs after 40km of racing. And while there followed some aggressive racing with some moves briefly going clear, nothing stuck until the race entered the business end of the day with around 16km remaining

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And it was the crosswind sections rather than the climbing that were to do the most damage, with those winds splitting the main field, resulting in a strong group of 10 men pulling out a race-winning advantage.

These stayed in tact until the finish where Nulty finished off a great weekend to take the win in a sprint from the breakaway. What was left of the peloton came home around 30 seconds later.

Nulty had taken the Cicli Sport GP in Co Tyrone on Saturday in a three-up sprint, from Gary Cranston (Antrim East Audi) and Thomas Martin (Eurocycles). The DID Dunboyne man spent the winter training with Mark Dowling (Polygon Sweet Nice) in Lanzarote and appears to have benefited enormously from that.