Tom Martin (Spellman Dublin Port) has added a stage win at Dornan Rás Mumhan to his Rás Tailteann stage victory of last year, with the British rider taking an aggressive approach to the final today, powering up Kerryman's Table to win solo.
Just behind him, some of the young riders of the Irish cycling, who coming into their own this year, were again to the fore. Willem O'Connor (Velo Performance) claimed 2nd place - with British rider George Kimber (Spirt Racing) 3rd - and Ruairi Byrne (UCD Cycling Club) placing 4th. Irish U23 Curtis Neill (Caldwell Cycles) also impressed during the tough stage finish; very strong when the race was at its hardest.
That 2nd place on stage 3 today by O'Connor has secured him the lead in the points classification. The 18-year-old Cork rider is also now back up to 3rd, having been nudged out of the general classification podium positions by Daire Feeley (Burren CC) yesterday.
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Though Feeley told stickybottle after yesterday's stage he was climbing very well, and was hopeful for today's finish, he burned a few matches late today, going off the front, before an eventual 23rd place finish at 44 seconds.
The 119km stage 3 from Millstreet to Kerryman’s Table saw the field whittled right back before a reduced peloton entered the final, rather than any breakaway going clear before the climb.
Great win today at Dornan Rás Mumhan by British rider Tom Martin.
Willem O'Connor absolutely motoring again, best of the Irish in 2nd place on a day when the final climb did a lot of damage pic.twitter.com/2p2sceeiG1
— StickyBottle.com ? ? (@sticky_bottle) April 20, 2025
The main move of the run-in involved Feeley, Tom Armstrong (Spellman Dublin Port), Robin Mould (Foran), Joe Adlam Cook (Ride Revolution Coaching), Sam Kettlebell (Taap Kalas) and Kimber.
As the leaders dipped well into the final 10km, Cook and Kettlebell lost their places up front, making it a very strong foursome leading the race towards Kerryman's Table, with a gap of 30 seconds on the chasers.
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The gap then began to come down a little, with Armstrong and Kimber pushing clear of Feeley and Mould; that duo drifting back to the chasing group.
In that chasing group, yellow jersey Whitcher was pushing hard on the front when young Irish rider Curtis Neill (Caldwell Cycles) attacked and began closing in on the men ahead, only to be reabsorbed after a time.
Up front, Kimber and Martin were attacking each other as yellow jersey Whitcher was closing in on them.
As the finish approached, Martin was alone but being chased hard by a small group, led by Ruairi Byrne (UCD Cycling Club). He was with last year's stage winner George Kimber (Spirit Cycling), Willem O'Connor (Velo Performance) and yellow jersey Jamie Whitcher (Composite Black).
And that's the way it stayed to the the finish; Martin winning solo by seven seconds from O'Connor. Kimber was 3rd and Byrne 4th at eight seconds, with the yellow jersey Whitcher on his wheel and impressively defending yellow again.
Then came the riders who were not in that small lead group; Will Truelove (Halesowen Mapei) and Curtis Neill in 6th and 7th, both at 17 seconds.
Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Cycles) - the fast man who has climbed very well this weekend - was 8th, at 20 seconds, with yesterday's stage winner, Casper Rode (West Frisia) in 9th, at 24 seconds. Tom Armstrong (Spellman Dublin Port) was 10th on the same time as Rode.
Whitcher now leads the race, with one stage remaining, by 25 seconds from Tom Martin, with O'Connor 3rd at 30 seconds. Rode is 4th at 32 seconds with former GC winner Lindsay Watson (Caldwell Cycles) 5th at 1:08 and Feeley 6th at 1:09.
Feeley also has the climbers' classification, with Whitcher leading the young rider classification and O'Connor in the points classification jersey.
For full stage and all classification results, please follow this link
