CYCLING/RÁS: LIKE FATHER, like son. With a dogged, determined performance which kept him in the frame right until the end, Mark Cassidy yesterday took his first yellow jersey in a major stage race, taking over in the FBD Insurance Rás.
It came nine years after his father, Philip, won the second of his two Rás titles and is believed to be the first time two generations from the same family have led the race.
Double Rás champion Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) and 2004 winner David McCann (Ireland) fought it out for the stage honours at the end of the tough, wind-buffeted leg to Lisdoonvarna in Co Clare, with the Englishman jumping hard inside the final 500 metres and hitting the line two seconds ahead of McCann.
Mateusz Komar (Poland national team) and Waterford's Ciarán Power (Ireland Pezula Racing) were next across the line, just over a minute back.
Newton's team-mate Rob Partridge took fifth, one minute and six seconds down, and it took a lengthy countback to confirm that Cassidy had indeed finished close enough to him to take over the race leader's jersey.
The Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly rider was 15th on the stage but came home just one second behind Partridge, ending the day three seconds clear in the general classification.
Cassidy's team-mate Stephen Gallagher had lead the race overnight but missed out on the day's crucial breaks. He came home in a group two minutes and 35 seconds back, dropping to 14th overall.
"I can remember my father winning his second Rás, it was only nine years ago," said Cassidy at the finish. "I grew up with the race, it was a big part of my life. It was like the Tour de France in our house. I got a real kicking the first time I rode the race and so it's really rewarding to now finally have the yellow jersey."
He would clearly love to win overall, but recognises that it is still very early in a race that is notoriously difficult to control.
"We have a lot of strong riders on the team and what's important is that one of us wins," he said.
The crucial move was sparked off 65 kilometres into the stage when Derek Burke (Pezula Racing) and Neill Delahaye (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) went clear. They were eventually joined by a number of very strong riders, including Power. McCann and Newton got across in a group approximately 88 kilometres after the start.
The latter two then pressed on ahead with 18 kilometres to go. They were clear over the third category ascent of Ballinalacken and the first category Doonagore, increasing their lead all the way to the line.
Behind, the severity of the course fragmented the rest of the break and also the bunch, causing the field to be well spread out by the finish.
Newton said afterwards that he was unsure about his chances for the overall.
"I'm very happy to win the stage but haven't been racing long after coming back from a broken collarbone," he said. "We'll have to see how things go from here."
The Rás continues today with a lumpy 156km leg from Corofin in Co Clare to Tralee.
Stage Three details
FBD INSURANCE RÁS - Stage three (Claremorris to Lisdoonvarna): 1 Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 133 kilometres in 3 hours 25 mins 8 secs; 2 D McCann (Ireland national) at 2 secs; 3 M Komar (Poland national) at 1 min 4 secs; 4 C Power (Ireland Pezula Racing) at 1 min 5 secs; 5 R Partridge (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) at 1 min 6 secs; 6 A Bye (Britain Surrey Racing League) at 1 min 7 secs; 7 A Zargari (Iran Islamic Azad University); 8 S M Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Azad University); 9 M Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest); 10 B de Schrooder (Ireland An Post Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly); 11 P O'Brien (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly); 12 D Appleby (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk); 13 C McNamara (Britain Surrey Racing League); 14 K Page (Ireland Pezula Racing); 15 M Cassidy (Ireland An Post Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) all same time.
Primes:
King of the Mountains category 3 Ballinalacken (118.9km): 1 David McCann (Ireland national team) 5 points; 2 C Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 4; 3 M Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 3
King of the Mountains category 1, Doonagore (125.6km): 1 Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 15 pts; 2 D McCann (Ireland national team) 12; 3 S M. Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Azad University) 10
County rider: 1 Peter Hawkins (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) 3 hours 27 mins 43 secs; 2, S O'Sullivan (Meath MyHome.ie BDBC); 3 D Dunworth (Kerry Total Cleaning Supplies) both same time
General classification: 1 Mark Cassidy (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 10 hours 28 mins 39 secs; 2 R Partridge (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) at 3 secs; 3 A Higham (Britain Plowman Craven) at 5 secs; 4 A Bye (Britain Surrey Racing League) at 17 secs; 5, K Page (Ireland Pezula Racing) same time; 6 C Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) at 18 secs; 7 D McCann (Ireland national team) at 20 secs; 8 R Aiken (Ireland national team) at 24 secs; 9 B de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) at 1 min 21 secs; 10 D Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) at 1 min 22 secs.
Points: 1 Dean Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 26 pts; 2 M Komar (Poland national team) 25; 3 B de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 19; 4 R Pioline (France Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur) 18; 5 R Partridge (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 16. Mountains: 1 Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line) 19; 2 D McCann (Ireland) 17; 3 S M Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Azad University) 14; 4 J Dabrowski (Poland) 8; 5 B de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 8 Under 23: 1 Dale Appleby (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 10 hours 30 mins 4 secs; 2 M Grashev (Bulgaria Nessebar) at 7 secs; 3 O Quast (Germany Stevens von Hacht) at 9 secs Cycling Ireland category 2: 1 Brendan Lacey (Kerry Total Cleaning Supplies) 10 hours 40 mins 18 secs; 2 M Power (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) at 1 min 53 secs; 3 M Lucey (Cork Kanturk Town) at 2 mins 21 secs
County rider: 1 Stephen O'Sullivan (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC) 10 hours 31 mins 32 secs; 2 D Dunworth (Kerry Total Cleaning Supplies); 3 P Hawkins (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) both same time International team: 1 Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk, 31 hours 26 mins 17 secs; 2 Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly, at 1 min 2 secs; 3 Ireland national team, at 2 mins 31 secs; 4 Britain Plowman Craven, at 4 mins 3 secs; 5 Ireland Pezula Racing, at 4 mins 15 secs
County team: 1 Dublin IRC Usher Insulations, 31 hours 45 mins 34 secs; 2 Kerry Total Cleaning Supplies, at 5 mins 46 secs; 3 Dublin Eurocycles, at 8 mins 11 secs; 4 Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC, at 11 mins 30 secs; 5 Tipperary Dan Morrissey, at 12 mins 10 secs
