Conor Murnane of UCD Cycling Club has taken the biggest win of his career to date when he claimed stage 2 at Kerry Group Rás Mumhan after a nail-biting finish into Sneem today.
A three-man breakaway of Darnell Moore (All human-VeloRevolution) local man John Brosnan of Killarney CC and former An Post-Chainreaction rider David Montgomery, riding for Spellman Dublin Port, dominated the finale of the stage but were caught in the final kilometre.
After they were recaptured, Murnane used his feared sprint to win the stage at the head of a near 30-rider front group. Niall McLoughlin (Irish Junior Team) but in a fantastic performance to make the front group and then finish 2nd on the stage while UK visitor Ben Fish (TAAP Cervelo) was 3rd.
There was some drama at the finish when one of the British riders, Llewellyn Kinch from (TAAP Cervelo), and stage winner Murnane came shoulder-to-shoulder just before the line. Kinch crashed hard but thankfully those behind managed to avoid him.
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As race leader Lindsay Watson (All human-VeloRevolution) was in the front group, he holds onto the yellow jersey secured via his stage win yesterday.
How it unfolded
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Today the cat 1 climb of Ballaghisheen did a lot of damage, with race leader Lindsay Watson (All human-VeloRevolution) and U23 classification leader Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port) both driving the pace in a bid to get clear.
After that climb, and the is the field sped towards Waterville, a two groups of between 10 and 15 riders each form formed at front and eventually emerged, with the remains of the peloton a couple of minutes back the road.
Before the race entered Sneem for the first time, the leading trio had gotten clear and had a gap of almost one minute on the chasing group. However, on the lap through Sneem that gap came right down and as the three leaders and the large chasing group entered the final 5km, the gap was below 15 seconds as Foran CC worked hard to close the gap.
Up front, Montgomery attacked Brosnan and Moore with about 3km to go and eked out a small advantage as the large chasing group was just behind the three leaders and looking like they would make the catch.
Moore and Brosnan managed to close the gap on Montgomery before they were caught by the chasing group and Murnane stepped up to unleash his sprint from the large front group to win.
More to come.
Rás Mumhan Stage 2 | Top 15
- Murnane, Conor CD Cycling Club 2:49:49
- Mcloughlin, Niall Cycling Ireland Jnr Team +00
- Fish, Ben TAAP Cervelo +00
- Kane, Daniel Spokes Racing Team U23 +00
- Smith, Luke Moynalty Cycling Club +00
- Harvey, Dean Spellman Dublin Port Cycling Team +00
- Watson, Lindsay Velo Revolution +00
- Doyle, Leo Greenmount Cycling Academy +00
- Moore, Darnell Velo Revolution +00
- Meaney, Richard Burren Cycling Club +00
- Rosie, Lee Spokes Racing Team U23 +00
- Evseev, Vladislav All Human - Velo Revolution Racing Team +00
- Guerini, Monte Foran Cycling Club +00
- Smith, Jacob Spokes Racing Team U23 +00
- Mccarter, Darragh Spellman Dublin Port Cycling Team +00
