Stage 1 - May 19: Dublin - Ballinamore, 156 km     <Main Page>     <Next Stage>

Newton time trials to first stage win

Great Britain riders took up where they left off last year when joint team leader Chris Newton today won the opening stage of the FBD Milk Rás and took the first yellow jersey of the eight day event. Newton raced clear on the tight, twisting finish circuit and soloed to victory into Ballinamore, twenty seconds clear of Team Ireland-Stena Line rider Ciarán Power and the rest of a 27-man breakaway group.

The victory was a sweet one for Newton, coming one year after he was forced to pull out of the race with foot problems. Back then, team-mate Paul Manning stepped into the breach and won the race, and while Manning finished as part of the main bunch which lost over seven minutes today, Newton, Tim Buckle and Steve Cummings are all very much in the hunt to bring yellow back to Britain once again.

All Irish hopes rest with Power, David O'Loughlin (Mayo Wheelers) and Ray Clarke (Meath Lee Strand Cycleways), who were the only home riders to slip into the 27 man breakaway group which opened up a huge lead over a lethargic, and poorly organised main field. Amongst those now resigned to searching for stage wins rather than yellow are previous champions Phil Cassidy (Meath Lee Strand Cycleways), Julian Winn (Wales), Andy Roche (Isle of Man) and Tommy Evans (Team Ireland-Stena Line).

Last year's race may have been characterised by tight, controlled racing which resulted in few time gaps, but today bucked this trend. Strong tailwinds on the road out from Dublin pushed the speeds up, and once the riders turned left and hit strong crosswinds and driving rain, the splits started happening. Shortly after Newton took the bonus seconds at the Kells hot-spot sprint, a six man breakaway group comprising Power, Buckle, John Tanner (Lancashire Compensation Group), Daniel Spence (South Africa HSBC), Neil Swithenbank (Lancashire Mk Cycles Bianchi) and Ari Hojgaard (Denmark Distrikt Jylland-Fyn) raced clear. A second chase group of nine riders bridged across 13 miles later, with the final junction being made shortly afterwards.

Despite some inconsistent work, the now-27 strong group pulled steadily clear of the main bunch. Power, Clarke and O'Loughlin were here, as were Newton and his GB team-mates Buckle and Cummings. The ever-consistent Lancashire Compensation Group trio of Mark Lovatt, John Tanner and Kevin Dawson also made the split along with riders from the South Africa HSBC, Poland Legia and Canada Sympatic pro teams.

Tanner had won the hot spot sprint into Virginia but Newton countered that with some more bonus seconds when he was first over the line into Killeshandra. That should have been enough to ensure he took the first yellow jersey of the race but he was after the stage as well; an unsuccessful attack coming into Ballinamore was followed by a more decisive effort on the final ten kilometre finishing loop.

Showing the time trial skills which won him the recent Tour de la Manche in France, he drew steadily clear on a tight, twisting run-in to the finish beside the Shannon-Erne waterway, and soloed up the main street to an ear-splitting reception. Twenty seconds later Power coolly out-sprinted the remainder of the break to take second on the stage, with Neil Swithenbank (Lancashire MK Cycles Bianchi) and Lars Bojsen (Denmark Distrikt Jylland-Fyn next home.

"It is great to win the stage", said Manning afterwards. "I had foot problems last year and had to pull out of the race. This season I have built up a bit more slowly but am in good form – I won the Tour De La Manche last week in France and am going pretty well."

"We got a good gap today but I was a bit unhappy that the group didn't work better as I think we could have opened up a lead of ten or fifteen minutes. I really wanted to win the stage so I had a couple of goes on the way in towards the finish – I got clear and just time-trialled from there to the line."

"Getting the jersey so early makes things difficult – I was conscious that the FBD Milk Rás is a very difficult race to control. But I thought it was better to win a stage rather than hold back, in case anything went wrong later in the week. I am not too worried about the overall – there are three of us from the team up there now and so the pressure is not really on me."

Irish hope Ciarán Power was also satisfied with his day's racing. "I felt very good during the stage," he said. "Unfortunately a few of the Irish team were sick and missed the move, so I was the only one there. I think I could have brought Newton back near the end but the other riders weren't willing to give me a hand. I was hoping to win the stage and so didn't want to give anyone an armchair ride to the finish. I backed off and Newton stayed away. It is a long week, though, and I feel pretty good!

1 Chris Newton (GBr) Great Britain 3.36.04 (43.32 km/h)
2 Ciaran Power (Irl) Team Ireland Stena Line 0.20
3 Neil Swithenbank (GBr) Lancs M.K. Cycles Bianchi
4 Lars Bojsen (Den) Denmark Distrikt Jylland-Fyn
5 John Tanner (GBr) Lancaster Compensation Group
6 Huw Pritchard (GBr) Wales
7 Ben Brooks (Aus) NW England Cycle Centre RT
8 Ari Hojgaard (Den) Denmark Distrikt Jylland-Fyn
9 Ian McLeod (Rsa) South Africa Team HSBC
10 Gary Dodd (GBr) Surrey League
11 Michael Laursen (Den) Denmark Distrikt Jylland-Fyn
12 Hubert Nowak (Pol) Poland Team Legia