Mike Storan (leading) of Liquidworx-Fitscience is in the yellow jersey in Connacht but with the Munster juniors looking likely the battle for the final yellow has plenty in store.
Mike Storan has taken his first win for four years in the opening stage of the Tour of Connacht in County Mayo, beating Munster Sensa duo Stephen Shanahan and Dylan O'Brien to the line at the end of 96 kilometres of racing.
The Liquidworx-Fitscience rider infiltrated the day's seven-man breakaway in the opening 30 kilometres.
With the help of team mate Paddy Clarke, he drove the escape to pull out a whopping three and a half minutes on a three-man move that got away with 20 kilometres to go and pulled out a handful of seconds on the peloton.
Storan, previously of Planet-Tri and West Clare CC, joined his new Ballina-based squad last winter, was last victorious at the Cycling Pursuits Cup in 2010. And following a number of near misses since then, he finally ended that drought and will wear the yellow jersey for tomorrow's second stage.
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But the Clare man would be the first to admit that his win would not have been possible but for the Trojan work done by Clarke, who has been in superb form since the season began over a month ago.
Clarke was active throughout a lightning quick start to the stage, with the Munster Sensa team of O'Brien, Shanahan and the precocious Eddie Dunbar launching attack after attack that had the peloton gasping for breath each time.
But Clarke pulled the moves back before the elastic eventually snapped around 25 kilometres in.
Dylan O'Brien, one of a number of really talented juniors aiming for big things in 2014, jumped away and immediately pulled out a lead before a trio went in pursuit of him, including Shanahan and the very impressive Daire Feeley (Donamon Dynamos).
That move pulled out a little daylight on the bunch but never bridged to the leaders. Meanwhile behind, Dunbar and Clarke continued their tete-a-tete, with both managing to get away along with Storan, Derek Joyce (Galway Bay CC), Anthony Murray (Subaru Montgomery Albion), Shanahan and three more, making it 11 up front with the gap growing quickly to one minute.
Eddie Barry, also Liquidworx-Fitscience, tried with two more to bridge but the closest they got was 50 seconds and that came on the steepest climb of the day, where the break were really motoring.
Over the top and the gap was widening as the kilometres ticked down and the furious pace saw four dropped from the break, picked up by Eddie Barry and the two that earlier went with him.
But with around 60 kilometres done, there were just two groups on the road; the seven men up front and the peloton. The bunch staying intact was due in part to some strong pulling by Padraig Marrey's Western Lakes CC quintet and the presence of the Westport Covey Wheelers team also.
Approaching the finish Dunbar's attacks kept up, while O'Brien and Shanahan also tried to get away, perhaps sensing that against bigger men the headwind finish wasn't going to suit them.
To that end, Clarke did all he could to pull the gap out as much as possible while also negating anything the three Munster riders had to offer, with Storan enjoying something of an easier run-in.
But with the pressure on to reward the work of Clarke, he delivered in style. It's very likely that the overall winner will be one of the
front seven, barring a major catastrophe.
Eddie Barry, Marc Potts (Omagh Wheelers CC) and Mark Shannon (Visit Nenagh-Team DMG) jumped away with around 70 kilometres completed and stayed clear to pull out half a minute on the chaser..
Tomorrow's second stage is another testing 60 kilometre and on a lumpy parcours it's likely another break will escape, before the afternoon time trial showdown which could go any way.
It's advantage Liquidworx-Fitscience, but with that talented crop of Munster Juniors - a National TT champion in Dunbar, as well as silver and bronze medallist from the Junior road race last year in Shanahan and O'Brien - it's very much all to play for.
Tour of Connacht
March 29th & 30th: Castlebar, Mayo
Results Stage 1
|
1 |
Mike Storan | Liquidwork | A1 | 2h 20mins 11sec | ||||
|
2 |
Stephen Shanhan | Munster | A3 | st | ||||
|
3 |
Dylan O'Brien | Munster | A3 | st | ||||
|
4 |
Derek Joyce | Galway Bay | A1 | st | ||||
|
5 |
Anthony Murray | Subaru | A1 | st | ||||
|
6 |
Eddie Dunbar | Munster | A3 | st | ||||
|
7 |
Patrick Clarke | Liquidwork | A1 | st | ||||
|
8 |
Marc Potts | Omagh Wheelers | A1 | 3.28 | ||||
|
9 |
Eddie Barry | Liquidwork | A1 | st | ||||
|
10 |
Mark Shannon | Visit Nenagh | A1 | 3.32 | ||||
|
11 |
Jason Prendergast | Liquidwork | A2 | 3.55 | ||||
|
12 |
Daragh Feeley | Donamon Dynamos | A3 | 3.58 | ||||
|
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13 |
Thomas Walsh | Castlebar | A3 | st | ||||
|
14 |
Gareth Mc Cormack | Liquidwork | A1 | st | ||||
|
15 |
Tony Bourke | Galway Bay | A3 | st | ||||
|
16 |
Padraic Hughes | WLCC | A3 | 4.00 | ||||
|
17 |
Brian Canty | Liquidwork | A1 | st | ||||
|
18 |
Sean O'Malley | WLCC | A1 | st | ||||
|
19 |
Gary Mc Donald | Visit Nenagh | A2 | st | ||||
|
20 |
Valerio di Bacco | Galway Bay | A3 | st | ||||
|
21 |
Donal Kelly | Galway Bay | A2 | st | ||||
|
22 |
Paul Dunne | Ballina CC | A3 | st | ||||
|
23 |
Michael Stafford | Wexford Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
24 |
Joe Mulleady | Curlew Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
25 |
Jimmy Dignam | Adamamstown | A3 | st | ||||
|
26 |
Gary Moran | Castlebar | A3 | st | ||||
|
27 |
Paul Mc Carter | Omagh Wheelers | A2 | st | ||||
|
28 |
Chris Troy | Castlebar | A1 | st | ||||
|
29 |
James Mc Greevy | Covey Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
30 |
R.Meaney | Covey Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
31 |
Kieran Heneghean | WLCC | A3 | st | ||||
|
32 |
Dave Nugent | Seven Springs | A2 | st | ||||
|
33 |
Francis Gannon | West Coast Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
34 |
Michael Butler | Visit Nenagh | A1 | st | ||||
|
35 |
Paul Harrington | Dolmen | A3 | st | ||||
|
36 |
Gerard Corcorcan | Covey Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
37 |
Eamon Hartnett | Visit Nenagh | A3 | st | ||||
|
38 |
Daragh Mc Carter | Omagh Wheelers | A2 | st | ||||
|
39 |
Padraig Marrey | WLCC | A1 | st | ||||
|
40 |
JJ Flaherty | WLCC | A2 | st | ||||
|
41 |
Keith O'Connell | Covey Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
42 |
Stephen Murphy | Cunga CC | A3 | 9.22 | ||||
|
43 |
David Walsh | Covey Wheelers | A3 | st | ||||
|
44 |
Dave Mc Grath | Castlebar CC | A3 | st | ||||
|
45 |
Peter Tuohy | Castlebar CC | A2 | st | ||||
|
46 |
Cale Coen | Castlebar CC | A3 | 12.43 | ||||
|
47 |
Darrach O'Mahony | Munster | A3 | 13.35 | ||||
|
48 |
Michael Walsh | Castlebar CC | A3 | 13.42 | ||||
| DNF | David Brody Castlebar CC, Joe Noonan Visit Nengh | |||||||
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