Tim Shoreman has claimed another Rás Tailteann stage win, this time breaking Willem O'Connor's heart as the home town boy raced into Banteer (Photo: Toby Watson)
Willem O’Connor (O’Leary Stone Kanturk) lit up the final of stage 2 on Rás Tailteann, a near 200km race into Banteer, but British rider Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli) broke his heart at the finish.
O’Connor, the home town rider at the front today, forced the key split in the 12-man breakaway coming in the road, initially joined by two riders and then three more.
And from that six-man group, who gained significant time on the remains of the peloton today, young O’Connor would have wanted it the most, especially riding for the local club on this Rás.
But Shoreman is a canny and powerful rider and he also had team mate Tom Martin in the six-rider breakaway. And so as Shoreman sprint in, his arms in the air celebrating victory, O’Connor had his head down just behind him, taking 2nd place with the rest of the group lined up behind him.
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Tim Shoreman of Wheelbase Cabtech takes victory in stage 2 from local man Willem O’Connor (Kanturk CC) #Rás2026 pic.twitter.com/Wnrcv4b66C
— Rás Tailteann (@rastailteann) May 21, 2026
Aside from O’Connor, Ireland also had a second rider in the six-man lead group, naming Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling), who finished 3rd today and has now set himself up for a good general classification result to this week.
Shoreman won today by one second from O'Connor, with McDunphy and his team mate Adam Lewis, 3rd and 4th on the same time, also at one second.
Then came Joshua Dike (Natural Greatness Rali Ale), 5th at four seconds, and Tom Martin (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli), in 6th place at seven seconds and last of the breakaway men.
The next riders home - some of the original 12-man breakaway that formed in the second half of the race - was 46 seconds down. It was led in by Niek Hoornsman (West Frisia) from Matteo Cigala (Dan Morrissey).
Today's time gains by the six-man winning move wiped out those of the four-man winning breakaway on stage 1. However, McDunphy's American team mate, Adam Lewis, was in the winning move yesterday and also today.
And that means Lewis holds the yellow jersey now, leading the race by 36 seconds from today's stage winner, Shoreman.
More to come.
How the stage unfolded, all 192.7km
Today's stage - 192.7km from Rathmore to Banteer - saw last year's yellow jersey Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Powerhouse) win the cat 3 Morleys Bridge KOH, after 25km, from Max Weber (Hucare Factor Team), Evan Keane (Pinergy Orwell) and Matt Bostock (Isle of Man CC).
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As the riders approached the cat 2 ascent of Caha Pass, an 11-man group had pulled clear and quickly gained about 45 seconds. That group was made up of:
Ronan McLaghlin (Foyle CC), Archie Peet (O'Neills Spirit Racing), Tijs Dekker (West Frisia), Daire Feeley (Burren CC), Karl Hall (Hucare Factory Team), Matthew Walls (APS Pro Cycling), Evan Keane (Pinergy Orwell), Ruairí Byrne (UCD Cycling Club) and Liam Crowley (Team Ireland).
As they crested Caha Pass, with 59km completed, Crowley led across the top from first-year U23 Walls and Hall. They then raced onto the next climb, the cat 3 at Glengarriff, after 72km of racing, where the result was the same; Crowley from Walls and Hall.
By that point, they advantage had reached 1:40 over the chasing pack and with 100km of racing done, on the longest stage of the race, it was halved, to 50 seconds. As the gap continued to close, some of those in the breakaway sat up while a number pressed on.
And that chopping and changing soon led to a new five-man group forming. Rás veteran McLaughlin was still there, as was former Rás winner Feeley and the impressive Byrne. They were now joined by yellow jersey Rowan Baker (Isle of Man) and George Peden (PB Performance), the latter also a potential winner of this race overall.
They were being chased by nine riders at one minute, with the peloton 1:40 behind them. However, the chasing group was soon absorbed by a much reduced bunch, and while Team Ireland's Crowley chased alone for a period, he took was caught.
On the cat 3 climb of Cuan Mhuire - with 134km completed and 58km still to go - the leaders stayed together though the main field split. The first group chasing the leaders were at 1:17 and another large group was next, some 1:40 down on the front of the race.
However, with the first chasing group closing in, Feeley attacked the breakaway, gaining 10-20 seconds, and was then joined by Peden. But with the main field now less than 50 seconds back, very soon the two sections of the breakaway were caught and a new escape went clear with about 25-30km remaining.
It contained Feeley again and two of yesterday's breakaway men, namely Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT) and Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling).
They were with: Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli), Matteo Cigala (Dan Morrissey), Zach Walker (Isle of Man), Williem O'Connor (O'Leary Stone Kanturk), Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling), Tom Martin (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli) and Niek Hoornsman (West Frisia).
With about 25km to go they had a lead of 20 seconds over just 40 riders, the remains of the main field. Over the climb of Lyre, with 170km completed, and 22km to go, the breakaway was still up the road, but the gap was holding at 20 seconds.
And at that point of the race, on the climb, two riders got across from the chasing pack to the 10 leaders, with Joshua Dieke (Natural Greatness-Rali-Ale) one of those.
However, as the finish neared the front group began to split, with Willem O'Connor (O'Leary Stone Kanturk) clearly looking for a home town win as he was one of those on the move off the front.
With 8km remaining he was in a three-man attack - alongside McDunphy and Shoreman - a few seconds on the rest of the breakaway and the remains of the main field at 1:30.
However, three soon became six. For company O'Connor now had team mates Lewis and McDunphy, team mates Shoreman and Martin, and Dike. With 3km to go, they had 20 seconds on the remains of the breakaway, also six in that group, but splitting on the run-in.
And that’s the way it stayed, the six leading riders remaining clear, with Shoreman winning from O’Connor and McDunphy.
