Rian McCrystal of Team Ireland has taken a second stage win at the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland to win extend his race lead (Photo: Stephen McMahon-Sportsfile)
Rian McCrystal has defended the yellow jersey at the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland in style today, Friday, by winning stage 4 from Ennis to Kilfenora.
At the end of 122.8km of racing, McCrystal was quickest in the sprint to the line from the large front group that formed after the late cat 1 ascent of Castle Hill.
In the final gallop to the line, the Irish rider edged out Zach Barbour (Spokes–Oscar Onley Development) and Rab Drummond (Team Rauland).
And McCrystal, a first-year junior, won the stage and extended his lead at the top of the GC despite being forced to change bikes early in the day.
He crashed just 5km into the stage and broke his shoe, forcing him to change it, before engaging in a long chase to get back to the bunch.
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He now has two stage wins this week, after claiming the race lead by winning yesterday’s stage, and has now extended his advantage in the general classification, points classification and young rider competition.
How it unfolded
Gregor Calvert (West Lothian Clarion CC), James Armstrong (Cycling Ireland), Ciaran O’Sullivan (Team Munster Development) and Curtis McKee (Cycling Ulster) formed the main breakaway of the day, pulling out a gap of over one minute.
However, given how small that group was, and how many big teams were not represented, it always looked like a tall order for them to stay away for the day.
After their gap went above one minute, the task of reeling them back in began. And once that pursuit started, the leaders were really up against it.
As the gap tumbled, McKee – who has been very aggressive on this race – relinquished his place up front; opting to wait for the peloton as it was closing in.
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And shortly after that, Armstrong pressed on alone, with the bunch no more than 20 seconds behind the leading riders at that point.
However, though the bunch was just behind, Armstrong impressively rode off the front alone and was then joined by Jake McLean (Ignite Junior Cycling Team).
Unfortunately, their two-man move off the front was short-lived, and with about 95km of the stage completed, they were absorbed by the bunch.
The riders then raced on towards the cat 1 climb of Castle Hill, with just over 20km remaining on the stage.
Cormac Nagle, the Irish-American rider from Hot Tubes, was the one who most impressed in the following kilometres, powering away solo and gaining around 20 seconds as he raced towards the start of the climb.
Nagle led up, and across the top, of Castle Hill, with the bunch behind exploding. And shortly after Nagle took to the KOH prime, he was caught by a small group.
It included Team Ireland’s Hugh Og Mulhearne, Fionn Killeen and Darragh Byrne. However, almost immediately they formed into a group, others began getting across, forming a reduce peloton rather than a breakaway.
Yellow jersey Rian McCrystal (Team Ireland) was among those in that large lead group, defending his jersey well and with plenty of team support around him.
And despite plenty of attacks being fired off the front in the run-in to the finish, the group arrived on the finishing straight intact, with McCrystal sprinting in to victory.
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