There was plenty of action, and not all of it of the welcome variety, on stage 2 of Rás na mBan. Rhona Callander of Team GB claimed victory (All photos Lorraine O'Sullivan)
Team GB’s Rhona Callander has taken stage 2 of Rás na mBan into Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny.
The Scottish rider was best in what was another sprint from a reduced peloton; this time after 71km in wet conditions.
After claiming victory and the first leader’s jersey of this race on the opening stage on Wednesday, Nina Kessler found things tougher today.
The 30-year-old Dutch pro fell victim to a crash with about 10km remaining. That spill brought down several riders, including the Irish champion and national team rider Eve McCrystal.
Thankfully they got back up onto their bikes and rejoined the action. But it was an unwanted interruption for two of the big guns.
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And in the end while they lost no time, Kessler did lose her race leader’s jersey.
Action from a dirty day in Co Kilkenny on the second stage of Rás na mBan 2018.
Callander stormed up the finishing straight at the end of an aggressive stage to take victory and was clearly delighted with her day’s work.
A victory in this race now counts for much on the international scene given the quality of the field.
Callander’s Team GB line-up adds significant class in itself, but this is a race now littered with top established riders and up and coming stars of the future.
Rhona Callander led him Anne Sophie Harsch from Luxembourg and Desirée Ehrler of Switzerland. In fourth place for the second day in succession was Iris Sachet from France.
With a large number of riders finishing on the same time today and yesterday, 55 women are now on equal time.
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It means the leader’s jersey was decided today on count back. Sachet’s consistency carried her into that race lead; the jersey moving onto her shoulder’s from those of crash victim Kessler.
The new race leader also holds the lead in the points classification after two of six stages over the five-day race.
Claire Faber of the Andy Schleck Cycles Women’s Project, who was 2nd yesterday and 9th today, retains the young rider classification.
Top Down: She's from Poland but we're claiming her; Agnieszka Wozniak who lives and races in Ireland leads the 'domestic rider' classification. Breda Horan of Scott Orwell Wheelers gets cleaned up after the stage. Iris Sachet of Team DN 17 Nouvelle Aquitaine tops the general standings.
In the queen of the mountains contest, Nicolas Juniper of TC Racing took the early lead yesterday.
And showing ominous intent today she took fourth on the first climb and was first up the second. It meant she retained her lead in that contest.
Irish rider Alice Sharpe, who was deservedly named on the Irish team today for the World Road Race Championships in Innsbruck in three weeks, is 2nd in the classification.
The VC Ériu woman has 16 points to Juniper’s 21; Sharpe winning the first climb today and finishing 4th on the second ascent.
Mount Leinster big test arrives
Best Irish rider today, as she was on the opening stage, was Lauren Creamer. The Scott-Orwell woman crossed the line in 15th.
Bandon CC rider Agnieszka Wozniak, guesting with Team Verge, was 30th today. And she retains her lead in the category of best domestic rider; for those based on the home scene.
The riders now face 110km of tough roads on Friday’s stage 3. It takes them to a summit finish on Mount Leinster and the general classification should take some definitive shape.
You can view the results here or in the embedded version below, which can be enlarged for easier viewing.
[googlepdf url="https://storage.stickybottle.com/prod/uploads/2018/09/Rás-na-mBan-stage-2-results-1.pdf"]
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