Young Jake Gray, riding for Team Ireland, was one of the Irish riders who made the winning breakaway on stage 1 of the Rás. But the victory went to Cyrille Thiery of the Swiss national team (Photo: Sean Rowe)
The Irish riders Jake Gray and Damien Shaw may have made the breakaway on stage 1 of Rás Tailteann, but the victory went to the Swiss national team.
After a 10-man escape had broken clear with about one hour's racing completed, they would pull out a gap of approximately 1:40 at one point.
And while that advantage was whittled down before the finish line in Athlone, Co Westmeath, the escape would survive.
In the closing kilometre it was Swiss rider Cyrille Thiery who took the initiative. He attacked solo and while he only ever had a few seconds on the chasers, it proved enough.
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Thiery had time to give the spectators the two-arm victory salute, winning the stage in some style.
Luuc Bugter (Delta Cycling Team) was just behind in 2nd place. And rounding out the podium was Robbie Ghys (Belgium).
The first county rider was Matteo Cigala of the Viner-Pactimo-Caremark team.
How Rás stage 1 unfolded
The riders faced 136km from Drogheda to Athlone; proceedings commencing with a minute’s silence for Rás legend Gaybo Howard.
From the start the field took off like rockets, with the speed well over 60km per hour at times.
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The cat 3 climbers prime at Slane, Co Meath, was won by the eventual stage winner Thiery, in a sign of things to come.
And while the Slane climb came after just 14km, the first riders to lose contact with the bunch did so on that short, sharp, incline.
The first hour’s racing was super aggressive, with 44.7km covered. But despite the action nothing stuck until a large breakaway went clear after about 50km covered.
It was a strong combination; two teams with two riders apiece present and also some Irish interest.
In that group were: Jake Gray (Team Ireland), Damien Shaw (Holdsworth Pro Cycling), Robbe Ghys (Belgium), Dexter Gardias (Canyon Eisberg) and William Harper (St Piran Elite).
Also present were Luuc Bugter and Jason van Dalen (Delta Cycling X), Claudio Imhof and Cyrille Thiery (Switzerland) and Benjamin Wolfe (Jelly Belly Maxxiss).
The gap quickly went out to 50 seconds, but with a chase being led by Germany Bike Aid it soon fell by about 20 seconds.
However, the leaders dug in and would pull it out again, regaining the lost time. At the hot spot sprint in Rochfortbridge at the 84.4km mark, Shaw took the honours from Wolfe and Gray.
Further down the road Thiery would take the second cat 3 climb; from Shaw and Gray.
And by the time the next hot spot sprint was reached, in Kilbeggan at 99.4km, the gap was 1:40. Shaw took the sprint from Thiery and Gardias.
The gap would then gradually decrease, though the breakaway men survived.
And in the final kilometre, with the bunch just 20 seconds down, the winner would attack and just about hold off the other escapees for victory.
More to come.
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