Ronan Tuomey celebrates winning the Kanturk 3-Day this afternoon. It's a massive win for the 16-year old Cork-Giant rider who held the race lead since he won the stage two time-trial yesterday morning. (Picture: John Coleman)
By Brian Canty
Ronan Tuomey might have been one of the youngest in the field but the 16-year old Cork Giant rider won the Kanturk Three-Day in convincing fashion this afternoon.
Taking the yellow jersey following the time-trial on stage two yesterday, Sunday, Tuomey and his team successfully defended it on two nerve-racking stages afterwards.
Tom Gentleman (Manor West Hotel, Tralee-iBike), Sean Dineen (Sliabh Luachra CC) and 2014 winner Kieran Crean (Blarney CC) were just some of those closest to Tuomey but the young Corkman held out.
Two seconds of a lead was all he had on Gentleman, while Crean was only 10 seconds down. And Tuomey said he was put to the pin of his collar.
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“A small group got away yesterday and got around 15 seconds on the bunch but my teammate Dillon Corkery (Cork Giant) was in the break and he took the sprint,” explained Tuomey of what happened on Sunday’s stage 3.
There's nothing quite like a local man winning a stage in his local event; Kanturk's Conor Murphy takes a terrific stage win (Photo: John Coleman)
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The gap wasn’t enough to see anyone take the jersey from him but with today’s 100-kilometre stage featuring some lumpy terrain he knew the attacks would come all day.
“It was tough at times, Blarney had us under pressure to chase and Kieran Crean was attacking a lot. He really made me work for it.
“We kept it together on the first lap and then on the second lap up the climb we decided to go hard, Richard Maes attacked, a group escaped and we got going. That split the bunch and around 12 of us got away.”
That group had a three-minute lead at one point but by the end it was down to around half that.
Some of those in the move were eventual stage winner Conor Murphy (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC), Michael O’Sé (Killorglin CC), Crean (Blarney CC), Robert O’Leary, Dillon Corkery (both Cork-Giant), Richard Maes (Killarney CC), Clinton O’Mahony (West Cork CC), Roy Madden (Moda Sports/Kingdom Endurance) and Patrick Goszczyk (Bikeworx Celbridge).
“Clinton O’Mahony, Michael O’Sé and Crean were putting in some big attacks but we pulled them back.”
Conor Murphy (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk) and O’Sé – who only needed 30 seconds, got a gap with three or four kilometres to go.
They managed to contest the stage with the former taking it but right on their tails was the bunch with Tuomey towards the front. Maes led in the group for third.
“I’m very surprised to win,” said Tuomey.
“I was building slowly this season because I want to try and gain selection for the Europeans and hopefully put in a good time trial so this is a nice confidence booster.
“But I have to thank my team again, Dillon (Corkery) and Robert (O’Leary) were unbelievable and Corey (Hayes) and Michael McCarthy in the bunch did a great job behind.”
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