Last year's Kerry Group Rás Mumhan may have been largely decided by bunch sprints, but that mode of racing went out the window today when the field split significantly on stage 2 from Killarney to Sneem. When some of the strong men stepped forward to race hard off the front, the pain spread back through the field.
A four-man breakaway dominated the stage and though it was cut back to three before the finish, that trio is now in an ideal position to capitalise on the gains made today. They put 1:10 into a four-rider chasing group and 1:45 into the remains of the peloton, which was down to just 70 riders.
The three stars of the day were stage winner Finn Crocket (Spokes Racing Team), runner-up Dean Harvey (Cycling Ulster) and 3rd place finisher Ewan Warren (Caldwell Cycles Tyrone).
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Behind them, a four-man chasing group managed to get clear on the run in to Sneem, where they were led in by Jason Kenny (UCD Cycling Club). Though they lost over a minute to the leaders, they also gained 35 seconds on the peloton, which may be very useful by the time the race concludes on Monday.
The first decisive action of the day unfolded when the field, already thinned out somewhat by the relentless pace and attacks on draggy roads, reached the first KOH at Ballaghasheen Pass.
Jenson Young (ROKit SRCT) pushed clear solo and gained an advantage of about 20 seconds, though there was plenty of activity off the front of the bunch just behind him, with a three-rider group getting clear.
Up over the climb, Young took maximum points from Harvey and Crockett, then came Adam Gilsenan (Caldwell Cycles), Eoghan Lattimore (Skoda Munster Junior Team) and Daire Feeley (All human-VeloRevolution).
As the front of the main field when over the top of that climb, the three chasers managed to get clear and went off in pursuit of lone leader Young. In that chasing group were: Dean Harvey, the Trinity Racing man riding for Cycling Ulster this weekend, Finn Crockett (Spokes Racing Team) and Ewan Warren, the Spanish-based Irish rider competing this weekend for Caldwell Cycles and who won a stage of the Gorey Three Day last Easter.
The trio quickly made the catch, making for a four-man leading group which quickly got down to the business of the day; rotating up and over in a bid to build their gap. Initial time checks revealed they had a 30-second gap, though that soon nudged just over 50 seconds and they raced towards Waterville and the Coomakesta Pass, a cat 2 climb.
As they began that climb, the time checks showed the gap was just over one minute - reaching 1:20 to be precise - with stage 1 winner and yellow jersey Thomas Springbett (Foran CC) back in the remains of the bunch. However, as the breakaway worked hard up front, the bunch did not hang around up the climb and shaved almost 30 seconds off the leaders' advantage as they headed down the climb into the headwind.
Behind the breakaway, a three-rider chasing group got clear of the bunch. That small group featured dangerman Aaron Wade, based in Spain this year but riding this weekend for Lucan CRC, as well as Irfan Zaman (Embark Spirit BSS) and Peter McLean (Challenge CC).
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Those three chasers made real progress and soon had the four leaders back to 15 seconds, with the bunch about 40 seconds back. The three chasers were then trimmed to two, with Jenson also sitting up from the four-man breakaway as the bunch was within 30 seconds off the front of the race.
However, with 20km to go, the three leaders were showing real resilience as they were holding off the two chasers - at 22 seconds - while the bunch was just over 40 seconds back.
The chasing group was then joined by reinforcements, swelling its number to six. In that group were: Anders Fynbo (Spellman Dublin Port), Mark Shannon (Crimmins Howard Burren CC), top international paracyclists Ronan Grimes (Pinergy Orwell Wheelers), Zaman, Wade and Young.
However, while they were a threatening-looking group, they were soon caught by the remains of the bunch. That left just three leaders ahead of the bunch and they now had 52 seconds as they raced towards the final 10km as they travelled at 50km per hour.
As they raced towards Sneem for the finish - but with one local lap to complete first - the attacks continued off the front of the bunch, with a four-man chasing group going clear.
That group included last year's overall winner Lindsay Watson (Cycling Ulster) as well as Jason Kenny, the UCD man who rode very strongly at last weekend's Des Hanlon, along with British riders Matthew Warhurst (ROKit SRCT) and Damien Clayton (Embark Spirit BSS).
However, the three men up front stayed clear and in the end they had a tidy advantage over the four chasers. Crockett won the stage from Harvey, both finishing on the same time - 2:34:29 - with Warren 3rd at two seconds.
Kenny led in the chasing group for 4th place - 1:10 down on the leaders - with Warhurst in 5th, Clayton 6th and Watson in 7th place.
Then came the remains of the bunch - numbering some 70 riders. Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Cycles), a stage winner last year, won the sprint for 8th place from Joe Beckinsale (ROKit SRCT). John Buller, the Cycling Ulster man who was 2nd yesterday, rounded out the top 10. Yellow jersey Springbett was in the main bunch.
Today's stage winner, Crocket, moves into the yellow jersey, with a two second lead over Harvey and Warren 3rd at six seconds. Warhurst is 4th at 1:15, with Watson, Clayton and Kenny 5th, 6th and 7th on the same time. Then comes Springbett, down to 8th overall at 1:41. Buller is 9th at 1:47 while junior rider Coleman is 10th at 1:49.
