Out in front and chasing down the clock, Mark Perry (Dirt Wheels Cycles CC) was the winner of the Ballinrobe Two Day (Photo: Conor McKeown)
By Brian Canty
Mark Perry (Dirt Wheels Cycles) took an unlikely overall victory at the Ballinrobe Two-Day yesterday when he wrestled the overall lead from Ryan Sherlock following a fabulous final stage.
Indeed, a handicapped stage-race often has its critics but the Western Lakes club got it absolutely spot on this weekend and can take great credit for hosting one of the most thrilling races of the year so far.
Sherlock of Polygon Sweet Nice, one of the most prolific domestic riders but no stranger to final day collapses, had a 1’10” lead starting the final stage on his wife and stage 1 winner Mel Spath (Team TIBCO).
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Starting yesterday’s final stage, Spath was part of the women’s group with a three minute handicap on the A3 bunch and five minutes on the A1&A2 bunch and so was virtual yellow on the road from the gun.
Sherlock needed to get across to the A3 bunch because a host of them were well placed on general classification or let others do the work and give his wife a chance of following up her opening day win, with winning the yellow jersey.
But unfortunately, their best laid plans came to naught.
The stage was just over 100 kilometres and Sherlock initially kept his matches in his pocket. But as soon as the gap started to tumble to the A3s up ahead, the attacks started and a few managed to bridge across.
Among those were eventual stage winner Derek Joyce (Galway Bay CC), Sean McKenna (UCD), and Mark Perry (Dirt Wheels Cycles). The latter was fourth starting the final day, 2’15 seconds down on Sherlock.
When then got clear of the A1&A2 group they helped give the A3 bunch a bit of firepower and drilled a good pace to push the gap out to over five minutes at one stage and Sherlock’s lead wiped out.
A break formed from that middle bunch of A3s and the A1&A2 men who had gotten across. There were around 10 riders in it; enough to make it work, but not too many that would force riders to starting jumping one another.
They caught the women and went through them, before Joyce and McKenna struck out and went in search of the stage win, or maybe more.
That forced Sherlock into a frantic chase behind, and he went to the front and time-trialed his way back into contention. With Eoin Whelan (Seven Springs) and Padraig Marrey (Western Lakes) fifth and sixth on GC, around two minutes back starting the stage, they also took their turns in trying to close it all down.
Alas, it wasn’t to be and when Perry took fifth on the stage – 20 seconds behind Joyce and McKenna, he had an anxious wait for the bunch, which was led in by Eoin Morton (UCD) over two and a half minutes back.
Perry - an English rider and unknown quantity 0 had done enough; with just five seconds to spare. Still, Sherlock wasn’t too brow-beaten as he had won the TT stage yesterday morning, while Spath had won a stage, taken second overall and claiming the mountains and points competitions.
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Ryan Sherlock was in the yellow jersey going into the final stage, but when an escape went clear from the A1&A2 scratch group he was in, he missed the boat and lost the race as a results (Photo: www.shutterstills.com )
Sean McKenna of UCD (left) and Derek Joyce of Galway Bay made it into the winning move and then attacked it, with Joyce beating the younger McKenna for the win. However, the UCD man is featuring more and more in the results and looks like one to watch (Photo: www.shutterstills.com)
National Champion in 2012 and 2013 and stage winner at the weekend, Mel Spath rides for the US-based Team TIBCO squad and is now looking very much like a professional bike rider (Photo: www.shutterstills.com )
Spath, seen here on yesterday's final stage second in line, may have lost her yellow jersey after yesterday morning's TT, but she came away from the weekend not only with a great stage win but also with victory in the points and climbers' classifications and with second overall (Photo: www.shutterstills.com)
Hardy Buck: Padraig Marrey not only sponsored the race via his company Marrey Bikes - www.marreybikes.com - but he was also one of the men of the race and finished 12th overall (www.shutterstills.com)
Eventual stage winner Derek Joyce (far left) leads eventual overall winner Mark Perry (to Joyce's left), with third placed rider on yesterday's stage Danny Bruton of NRPT-Standard Life on the far right (Photo: Conor McKeown)
Winner of the Ballinrobe Tw0 Day, Mark Perry (Dirt Wheels Cycles CC) rode strongly on the final day and looked happy in yellow (Photo: Conor McKeown)
