Killian O'Brien (Cycling Leinster) has given himself a real shot at general classic success at the Junior Tour of Wales after a fantastic ride in the opening hilly TT yesterday was followed up by a breakaway ride that gained almost two minutes on the main field.
O'Brien has already overcome adversity on this race - one of the premier events for juniors in Britain - after his Di2 cable snapped on his TT bike snapped before the time trial and he was forced to use his road bike. However, he still took 6th and after his second outing of the race today he is in serious contention.
For Josh Callaly, today's stage could hardly have dealt a more bitter blow after a solid ride in the TT yesterday, when he targeted the climbers' points and was 3rd on the cat 1 ascent on the course. Today, things started well - as they did for Conor Prendergast - until Callaly hit disaster.
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He got himself into the winning breakaway only to puncture out, and under the worst possible circumstances, leaving him stranded. The gap between the breakaway and the bunch was not big enough for the team cars to be allowed up to the lead group - containing O'Brien and Callaly, both Cycling Leinster.
And when Callaly punctured, neutral service was occupied with other riders. To add salt into the wound, the leaders had less than 20km to go at the time; Callaly having already put in a great shift only for it to go up in smoke.
It meant the Irish international faced the very difficult scene of watching the winning move, with his team mate and some of the best of British in it, ride off up the road, never to be seen again. However., Callaly is clearly going well and with three more stages to come, hopefully he will get a break.
On the 114.2km rain-hit stage from Beacon to Crai, O'Brien initially got clear with one other rider after about 50km of racing. Conor Prendergast, the Galway man guesting for Cycling Leinster, had been in the early breakaway and though it was caught, his presence there meant the pressure was off his team mates.
When O'Brien and British champion Oliver Dawson (Fensham Howes Junior Race Team) got clear in a two-man moved and began working hard together in a bid to put time into the peloton; both already well placed after Friday's stage 1 TT.
They were joined by a group of six - including Callaly - about 20km into their raid off the front. And though Callaly would later lose his place with that untimely puncture, the others drilled it all the way to the start of the final drag 7km from the finish. There, the breakaway's advantage was 1:40 over the peloton.
With three Scottish riders in the breakaway, all from the same club team but one riding for Scotland, they teamed up and drilled it on the front when the road kicked up, splitting the breakaway.
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However, while O'Brien made the front half of the split, one of the Scottish riders let a wheel go with about 300m to go. Rather than panic and close the gap with the others on his wheel, O'Brien waited and surged closer to the line, though had to settle for 4th on the stage of the five still in the move.
In the sprint from the breakaway, after 2hrs 44mins of racing, the stage was won by Dawson from Elliott Rowe (Fensham Howes Junior Race Team), Grindley, O'Brien and Louis Herring (Harrogate Nova CC).
The five-man group gained 1:51 on the bunch and now O'Brien is in 4th overall, some 21 seconds down on race leader Sebastian Grindley (Fensham Howes - MAS Design) who was 2nd in yesterday's TT.
Crucially, after O'Brien in the GC the gaps are much bigger; 1:09 to 5th - Louis Herring Harrogate Nova Race Team - and two minutes or more from 8th down.
Willem O'Connor (Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster) put in a strong finish today for 18th, crossing the line in the bunch at 1:51; that peloton numbering just 48 riders after a hard day out.
Also in that bunch were Munster riders Eoghan Lattimore and Cal Tutty, placing 21st and 26th. Prendergast, after his breakaway efforts in the opening hour of the race, was also in the peloton and placed 29th, with Munster's Rory Condon the other Irish rider in the bunch, in 43rd place.
Stage 2 | Brecon to Crai 114.2km
01 Dawson Oliver Fensham Howes Junior Race Team 02:44:07
02 Rowe Elliot Fensham Howes Junior Race Team + 00
03 Grindley Seb Leader jersey Fensham Howes Junior Race Team + 00
04 O'Brien Killian Cycling Leinster + 00
05 Herring Louis Harrogate Nova CC + 00
06 Gill Oliver Tofauti Everyone Active + 01:44
07 Souquet Kyan trainSharp Development team + 01:51
08 Kemp Daniel Prologue Racing Team + 01:51
09 Ingham James Prologue Racing Team + 01:51
10 Hinds Max Fensham Howes Junior Race Team + 01:51
11 Abraham Charlie Lee Valley Youth CC + 01:51
12 Sweeney James Beeston CC Juniors + 01:51
13 Gardner Alistair V.C.Venta + 01:51
14 Sorby Ivan Team Utmost IOM + 01:51
15 Dainty Harrison Fensham Howes Junior Race Team + 01:51
16 Opie Paul Lee Valley Youth CC + 01:51
17 Tinsley Lewis Huub BCC RT U19 + 01:51
18 O'Connor Willem Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster + 01:51
19 Murphy Alex Shibden Apex RT + 01:51
20 Fraser Elliot 360Cycling + 01:51
21 Lattimore Eoghan Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster + 01:51
26 Tutty Cal Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster + 01:51
29 Prendergast Conor Leinster + 01:51
43 Condon Rory Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster + 01:51
62 Collins Michael Tarrants Skoda Cycling Munster + 03:22
66 Walls Matthew Leinster + 03:22
70 O'Sullivan Patrick Leinster + 03:22
77 Harrington David Leinster + 04:23
86 Callaly Joshua Leinster + 15:19
General Classification
1 Sebastian Grindley Fensham Howes - MAS Design 2:57:42
2 Elliot Rowe Scotland J1 0:05
3 Oliver Dawson Fensham Howes - MAS Design 0:17
4 Killian O'Brien Cycling Leinster 0:21
5 Louis Herring Harrogate Nova Race Team 1:09
6 Dylan Sage Wales FJ2Wal 1:34
7 Rory Gravelle Wales FJ2Wal 1:50
8 Ahron Dick HUUB BCC Race Team 1:52
9 Joshua Jackson Tofauti Everyone Active 2:13
10 Lewis Tinsley HUUB BCC Race Team 2:14
18 Conor Prendergast Cycling Leinster 2:32
26 Cal Tutty E.Tarrant & Sons Skoda Munster 2:42
33 Willem O'Connor E.Tarrant & Sons Skoda Munster 3:00
38 Rory Condon E.Tarrant & Sons Skoda Munster 3:03
44 Eoghan Lattimore E.Tarrant & Sons Skoda Munster 3:16
55 Patrick O'Sullivan Cycling Leinster 4:21
62 Michael Collins E.Tarrant & Sons Skoda Munster 4:58
75 David Harrington Cycling Leinster 6:26
89 Josh Callaly Cycling Leinster 18:35
