Rowen Barker from the Isle of Man team wins today's stage 1 at Rás Tailteann after a four-man breakaway made it all the way (Photo: Toby Watson)
Rowen Baker (Isle of Man) claimed the opening stage, and first yellow jersey, at Rás Tailteann 2026. On the 161km opener from Portlaoise, Co Laois, to Kilmallock, Co Limerick, he was best of a four-man breakaway.
It gained well over a minute on the peloton at one point after going clear just after the halfway point; on the cat 3 climb of Bollingbrook, with 86.9km completed.
The winning breakaway also contained Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT), Ewan Mackie (Connacht Cycling) and Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling).
Mackie was 2nd over the line, Riwnyj 3rd and Lewis was 4th. Lewis started the breakaway by winning the cat 3 prime at Bollingbrook, at which point the remains of an earlier nine-man move were caught and replaced by the four who eventually made it all the way.
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Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Powerhouse) was best of the Irish in 7th place. He was 3rd in the sprint from the bunch - at 46 seconds. He was behind Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli), who was 5th, and Oliver Curd (DAS Richardson) in 6th.
Rowen Baker of Isle of Man CC takes the opening stage of Rás Tailteann 2026! #Rás2026 pic.twitter.com/FedsLtv39B
— Rás Tailteann (@rastailteann) May 20, 2026
Patrick O'Loughlin (Galway Bay CC), despite recent work and study commitments, got up for 8th while Italian Irishman Matteo Ciagala (Dan Morrissey-Pissei) was 10th.
Cigala took some time bonus seconds at the primes today and so leads the 'county rider' classification by three seconds from O'Loughlin, with Doogan 3rd at four seconds.
How the race unfolded
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With about 75km of racing done, and the Rás line-out having already made multiple appearances, a nine-man breakaway formed off the front.
It contained: Karl Hall (Hucare Factory Team), Niek Hoornsman (West-frisia), Matthew Walls (Aps Pro Cycling), Archie Peet (O'Neills Spirit Racing Team), George Peden (Team Pb Performance), Liam Crowley (Team Ireland), Paul Kennedy (Burren Cycling Club), Bryan McCrystal (Unit 7 Castlebar Cycling Club) and Lindsay Watson (Caldwell Powerhouse Racing)
However, after pulling out a gap of about 30 seconds very quickly, the breakaway split apart as they tackled two categorised climbs, one after the other.
The cat 3 at Dolla at the 82.8km marker was won by Crowley from Hall and Watson - great to see two Irish riders up there so early in the race.
But at the cat 3 of Bollingbrook, with 86.9km completed, new men were at the front, with the prime taken by Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling) from breakaway man Crowley and Willem O'Connor, the O'Leary Stone Kanturk man among the Irish riders fancied by stickybottle this week.
Lewis then pressed on at the front and was part of a new four-man breakaway. Also in that move were; Rowen Baker (Isle of Man), Irish rider Ewan Mackie (Connacht Cycling) and Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT), who was so impressive in Rás Mumhan at Easter.
They knuckled down and with 30km to go they had a gap of 1:30; significant but by no means a done deal.
However, with 20km to go, and despite an organised chased in the bunch, the leading four still had that 1:30 and were starting to look a little more likely - though not certain - to make it.
And with 10km to go, the gap was 1:35 and things were looking better for the leaders. The advantage was still just above one minute - 1:05 to be precise - with 5km to go to the stage finish in Kilmallock and was still one minute with just 2km to go.
They made it all the way, fighting for the stage honours in Kilmallock and taking some time out of the peloton that may come in very handy as the race unfolds over the next four days.
More to come.
