ON A day of unexpectedly warm weather, it was a Namibian rider who fared best in the heat and seized the first stage win and race leader’s yellow jersey of this year’s FBD Insurance Rás.
Dan Craven (Rapha Condor Sharp) followed up his victory a fortnight ago in the Shay Elliott Memorial in Wicklow when he triumphed into Dundalk, outsprinting seven other riders to scoop a first for his career.
In ending the day seven seconds ahead of stage runner-up Mark McNally (An Post M Donnelly Grand Thornton Seán Kelly) in the overall standings, he did something he never achieved before.
“Having never worn a yellow jersey in a UCI tour before, this is great,” he said.
The 149-kilometre opening stage began in Dunboyne, the home town of double FBD Rás winner Philip Cassidy and also the late Paul Healion, who won a stage in last year’s race.
The organisers paid tribute to the latter when the route took the peloton past his parents’ house, then after about 10 kilometres of action Craven and seven others pushed clear. He and McNally were joined by McNally, Kit Gilham (Britain Sigmasport Specialised), Michael Singer (Austria Arbö KTM-Gebrüder Weis), David Pell (Australia Drapac Porsche), Masaaki Kikuchi (Japan-Nippo), Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden-Team Sprocket Pro) and Andrew Roche (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta).
Approximately 70kms later Lucas Schadlich (Germany Thuringer Energie) and Luis Mas Bonet (Burgos 2016-Castilla y Leon) bridged across to make it 10. While this group never pulled out a big lead, their strength plus the lack of an efficient chase behind meant the chasers never got back in touch.
Craven was riding well, netting second in the sprint primes at Slane, Collon and Carlingford. He was pipped by Pell, Gilham and then McNally in those, but his consistency earned him more time in bonuses and increased the chances of him wearing yellow at the end of the day.
He didn’t want to take any chances, though, zooming clear on the climb of Long Woman’s Grave along with Pell and opening up a 25-second lead. And while they were later reeled in by most of their breakaway companions, he had enough oomph left to win the sprint, and thus the stage.
Liverpool’s McNally went close to taking a big win for the Irish-sponsored An Post team, but got his timing a little wrong for the sprint.
“I haven’t won a race this year, so I was hoping for it today. It was disappointing not to get it, but you have to think of the bigger picture,” he explained, pointing out he was second overall and thus in an extremely good position at the start of the race.
Adam Armstrong (Ireland Subway National Team) was the first home rider against the internationals, finishing in a 13-man group one minute 46 seconds back. He placed 18th, ending the day in the same time as last year’s winner Simon Richardson (Britain Sigmasport Specialised) and former Irish road race champion David O’Loughlin (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Seán Kelly).
The event continues today with a mainly flat 155 kilometre leg from Dundalk to Carrick on Shannon.
-Irish rider Daniel Martin had a superb showing on yesterday's 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia, a 222 kilometre race to the top of the savagely steep Monte Zoncolan climb.
The stage was won by the 2006 champion Ivan Basso, who shed all of his general classification rivals on the tortuous slopes, which average 12 per cent over 10 kilometres and include pitches of up to 22 per cent.
He hit the line one minute 19 seconds ahead of world champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who fought hard to try to stay in contact. Martin pulled out his best performance in what has been an otherwise low-key Giro for him, finishing top young rider in netting ninth. He was three minutes 31 seconds behind Basso.
Overnight leader David Arroyo Duran (Caisse d’Epargne) dug deep and managed to hold onto his race leader’s jersey, but is looking fragile. Basso is now up to third overall, three minutes 33 seconds back. Martin has improved to 51st, and will hope to keep climbing strongly after today’s rest day. Details in Sports Round-Up
