Winner takes it all as Barry Meade storms home for stage and overall honours

Barry Meade gets past Cathal Moynihan for the stage win and takes away overall honours for his efforts (Photo: Brendan Slattery)

By Brian Canty

Barry Meade has taken a last gasp victory in the final metres of the final stage of the Corkman Three-Day in Kanturk.

The Planet Tri rider won today’s uphill sprint finish just outside the town and the time gap he got in that sprint was enough to see him overhaul the yellow jersey wearer Kieran Crean of Blarney.

In fact, such were the time gaps in the group that Crean slipped from first to fourth overall, with Cathal Moynihan (Manor West Tralee) jumping to second overall and Dungarvan’s Stephen Murray rounding out the podium.

Crean’s club were very unhappy at the end of the stage, clearly believing that the gaps at the finish did not reflect the official time gaps awarded, though Meade certainly appeared to have well taken the six seconds he needed for the outright win.

Starting today’s final stage – a 90kilometre route – Crean held a one second advantage over Murray, with Meade at six seconds and Moynihan at 11 seconds. In total, there were 17 riders within a minute of Crean, meaning his teammates had their hands full from the outset.

And as expected, attacks came thick and fast from the gun with several riders trying to break away. Bearing in mind last year’s race was won in the final 10 kilometres – when Dungarvan’s Marc Flavin stole away to take the overall from Slaney’s Alan Galavan – the race was wide open.

But Blarney played it ultra cool, and much like the day before when they summoned their considerable strength to ensure Crean held yellow, they rode a near textbook race again today.

The most dangerous attack of the day came from Eddie Dunbar – riding in the colours of the Sensa Munster Junior team – when he attacked on the second lap and managed to escape, taking with him the Visit Nenagh duo of Denis Dunworth and Shane Scully as well as Darragh Bailey of the Connacht Cycling team.

With Dunworth 10^th on GC at 21 seconds, he became virtual leader on the road a lap later when that quartet put 40 seconds between themselves and the peloton. Dunbar was in second at this point but on the final lap that group splintered, with Dunworth and Bailey finding the pace too much.

So that left Scully and Dunbar out front and when the peloton driven by Blarney saw the break had halved in size, they hunted down the two up front. And not long after taking the bell for the final lap, the two leaders were in sight and were soon reeled in.

Unsurprisingly, that led to another volley of attacks, with Dylan Foley (NRPT-Standard Life) doing his best to try and get away, while Michael Butler (Visit Nenagh), Stephen Murray (Dungarvan), Michael Millar (Phoenix) and a host of others all tried their luck with some sharp accelerations.

Blarney were struggling at this point and Crean himself was forced to do a large chunk of the work. But he did it perfectly, upsetting a late move featuring Murray and Foley that had danger written all over it.

All the while, Meade was keeping his matches well and truly in his pocket and rarely showed himself at the front. The same for Cathal Moynihan – though in his case, a Trojan effort in the break yesterday must surely have stung his legs.

At the turn-off for Kanturk (5k from the town), the pace lit up with Murray, knowing he only needed a second to overtake Crean, launching two noteworthy attacks that had Crean on the ropes and his teammates gasping for breath.

But Crean, for the umpteenth time this weekend, was able to answer it. Foley tried a late assault coming in the road but to his sheer frustration he was marked out of it. So entering the town, it was all together.

Meade then opened the throttle and took the chicane bend perfectly before the finishing straight yawned out in front of him.

At the base of the 400 metre drag to the finish, he launched the race-winning attack, with Moynihan and a small group others glued to him. Crucially, Crean wasn’t one of them as he seemed to be caught out.

Meade attacked again halfway up the incline and with the throng of home support willing him on, he and Moynihan gapped a small group of six with the main bunch timed at 10 seconds behind them.

Crean was timed as coming over the line 21 seconds back and despite the best efforts of his loyal teammates who hauled him up to the finish line, he lost the race in the cruelest way imaginable.

Meade pumped his fists at the finish line but it was over two hours later before the result became official. Blarney protested with race officials and commissaries – but all complaints fell on deaf ears.

It’s worth noting that in Meade’s comeback race last year in the Charleville Park Two-Day, he did something not too dissimilar; grabbing the yellow jersey mere kilometres from the finish line when he escaped with Killarney's Brendan Cassidy, pushing C4S Hibernia rider Paul O’Connell into second.

Meade was gracious in taking the win today and must be commended for doing so. Yesterday, he suffered a heavy fall after four kilometres of racing and broke his bike. He was forced into a frantic chase and with blood streaming from his side and plenty road rash, so he can’t have felt too well today.

He also entered the final stage today without the same level of support as Crean and in the end he was a worthy winner.