Nicolas Roche shows the strain as he sprints for the king of the mountains points on stage of the Tour of Britain.
After a day on which a daring breakaway featuring three classy British riders stayed clear to share the spoils on the Tour of Britain, Ireland has two riders in the top 10 overall and one of them, Nicolas Roche, is just off the lead in the climbers' classification.
Tuesday's stage 3 took the field 180km from Congleton to Tatton Park on the outskirts of Knutsford, and while the general classification was barely impacted by the day's action it was nonetheless a fantastic race.
Shortly after the start it was Matt Cronshaw of Madison Genesis who attacked as soon as the race proper began and he was soon joined by two other men he knows well from the domestic pro scene; Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) and Kristian House (One Pro Cycling).
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That trio was joined by international heavyweight Ian Stannard (Team Sky) and while Cronshaw would be soon dropped, the other three were never seen again by the rest of the race.
By the time the leading three had reached the climb of the Cat and Fiddle climb in the Peak District they were six minutes up on a peloton that never got down to the business of closing them down as none was a threat overall.
And on that ascent, with just over 40km remaining, Stannard struck out and put daylight between himself and Briggs and House.
The latter pair continued to work well together but unable to prevent the Team Sky man from riding solo all the way to a great stage victory that sent the crowd wild.
Ian Stannard takes victory on a day when a breakaway of British talent ruled on home roads (Photo: Tour of Britain)
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When Stannard took his win 1:46 would elapse before Briggs pipped House for 2nd place on the stage.
And behind them, some 5:43 after Stannard finished, Italian Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani CSF) would beat Dutch fastman Danny Van Poppel (Team Sky) in the sprint for 4th place at the head of the 65-rider peloton.
Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Roche were in there; 44th and 49th respectively with Ryan Mullen (Cannondale-Drapac) on the same time just behind in 53rd.
Damien Shaw of An Post-Chainreaction also gave a very good account of himself on a day with plenty of climbing; the Mullingar man coming home in 91st place in a group 6:04 down.
He found himself on the wrong side of a split as the field hurtled in towards the finish but was otherwise in the main bunch.
Conor Dunne (JLT Condor) was slightly further back after his stage 2 breakaway heroics; finishing in 112th in a group 7:20 down on winner Stannard.
Roche has contested the minor placings in the climbers' classification all day, with the breakaway men mopping up the biggest points up ahead.
The Irish champion was equal on points in that competition at the start of the day with Xandro Meurisse (Wanty - Groupe Gobert).
The Belgian took 5th place on the climb of Alderley Edge after 98km, just one place ahead of Roche. At Brickworks after 112.5km, Roche was 5th and his rival 6th over the top.
That put them equal on points going into the last climbers' prime of the day atop the Cat and Fiddle, with the Belgian took just ahead of Roche to see him end the day just one point ahead of the Irish rider.
Stage 2 winner Julian Vermote (Etixx-QuickStep) remains in the yellow jersey, with his team mate Martin in 3rd place 1:04 behind.
Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) separates them and he is just four seconds off yellow having finished runner-up to Vermote on Monday's stage.
Wednesday’s stage 4 takes the riders 217km from Denbigh to Builth Wells in Wales. And while it and Thursday’s stage containing climbing, it is Friday’s leg that finishes atop a nasty climb at Haytoor-Dartmoor where Martin may shine brightest.
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