Stage 2 - May 23: Emyvale - Tubbercurry, 165 km     <Main Page >     <Previous Stage>     <Next Stage>

Newton takes stage and yellow jersey
By Shane Stokes in Tubbercurry

In terms of career results, two riders in particular stand out from the field in this year's FBD Insurance Rás. 2003 champion Chris Newton has racked up two world championship golds plus Olympic silver and bronze medals on the track, while Malcolm Elliott's previous incarnation as a top European professional saw him capture stage wins plus the overall points title in the Tour of Spain.

Pretty impressive stuff. Today, that class rose to the top, the two English competitors finishing well clear of the rest of the field and sprinting it out for the stage win between them. Elliott looked to have the victory all sewn up, only for his rival to nip around him with fifty metres remaining and scoop both the stage honours and the overall race lead.

That Elliott went so close to taking the win is further testimony to his remarkable longevity as an endurance athlete. The Yorkshire-Trinity Capital rider is now 43 years of age, but is clearly in great shape. And while he says that his climbing is probably not strong enough to challenge for overall honours, he will continue trying to add to the two stage victories he took last year.

The Yorkshire-Trinity Capital rider wasn't the only veteran in form on the undulating leg to Tubbercurry. Double Rás champion Philip Cassidy (Meath-Cycleways.com) was in the thick of things once more, forging ahead with Newton, Elliott and Ireland-Grant Thornton rider Conor Murphy inside the final thirty kilometres and losing sight of the stage win only inside the last eight. Murphy and Cassidy, who like Elliott is 43 years young, hung on to take third and fourth, while the overall race leader Morten Hegreberg finished 2 minutes and 26 seconds down and drops to third overall.

Stage one winner Roger Aiken (Louth-Safe Cycling) also lost considerable time, crossing the line as part of the main bunch some 5 minutes and 51 seconds after Newton and Elliott tussled it out for the day's honours. Like the majority of riders in the race, his overall aspirations are now over.

How it unfolded
Today's stage saw the riders tackle two categorised climbs along the 160 kilometres from Emyvale to Tubbercurry. The first came just five kilometres after the start and saw Meath-Cycleways rider Eugene Moriarty solo off the front to scoop maximum points. Moriarty had started the day in the King of the Mountains jersey but only by virtue of the fact that classification leader Hegreberg was wearing yellow. However, that prime win plus a later victory at the top of Bellavalley Gap saw him move a healthy ten points clear in that classification.

Once past the summit, US Guinness rider Donald Reeb (US-Guinness) shot clear. While his solo lead was a relatively short-lived one, his aggression acted as a catalyst for the day's big move. Eight riders-Newton, Elliott, Cassidy, Murphy, Zach Bell (Canada-Jet Fuel Coffee), Gabriel Rasch (Norway-Sparebanken Vest), Eoin Whelan (Louth-Safe Cycling) and Gary Dodd (Surrey Racing League) succeeded in bridging the gap and opened up a big lead over the main field.

Sensing danger, Kristian House (Britain-Fujibikes), Newton's team-mate Paul Manning and Craig Sweetman (Meath-M. Donnelly) set off in pursuit but they were unable to bridge the gap.

Tim Barry (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) then did what he could to get across, first joining forces with Evan Oliphant (Scotland) and then pressing on ahead alone. However he too was unable to reel in the break, spelling an end to his chances of taking yellow.

Like Barry, (and Elliott and Newton), Rasch was also in yesterday's escape and so was in the running for the overall lead. However the Norwegian had the misfortune to puncture just before Newton, Elliott, Murphy and Cassidy turned the screw at 27 kilometres to go and blew the front group apart.

He, along with Bell, Reeb, Whelan and Dodd were mopped up by a chase group comprising John Dempsey (Ireland-Grant Thornton), yellow jersey Morten Hegreberg (Norway-Sparebanken Vest), Alex Coutts (Scotland), Yanto Barker (Wales-Stena Line), Rob Sharman (GB-Recycling.co.uk), John Tanner, Kevin Dawson, Mark Lovatt (Yorkshire-Trinity Capital), Denis Lynch (Cork-Kanturk), Sean Lacey (Meath-M. Donnelly) and Barry.

Despite the charge behind, there was no way that the four up front would be overhauled before the line. With approximately eight kilometres remaining Newton and Elliott forged ahead, shedding the two Irish riders, and these raced on into the finish in Tubbercurry together.

There Newton proved marginally quicker, taking the stage and, by virtue of his eight second advantage going into the stage, the yellow jersey.

"Taking the lead on day two is a bit earlier than I planned but when I found myself out front, I decided to go for it," he said. "If the overall doesn't work out then at least I have the insurance of having landed a stage win. It takes the pressure off as well."

Elliott rued the missed opportunity, saying that mechanical problems prevented him from properly finishing off his sprint. "I felt pretty good. I started the sprint quite early and wanted to shift up a gear inside the final 50 metres. I changed the gear but all the rain today meant that the mechanism didn't work quite right. I had to ease back on the pedals to allow the chain to drop down a sprocket, but having lost that momentum I couldn't get it going again before the line.

"I don't think I am climbing well enough to be in the running for the overall classification. I think I will lose time on the mountains. Stage wins are what I came for but unfortunately it didn't work out today. I will try again later in the week...there will hopefully be a few more chances."

Third on the stage went to Ireland-Stena Line rider Conor Murphy. He was relatively satisfied with his placing. "The hill near the end was what caused my legs to seize up," he said. "I am happy to hang on for third on the stage, I don't think I would have done anything in the sprint against those two guys if I had stayed with them, I was pretty tired by that stage."

1983 and 1999 overall winner Philip Cassidy crossed the line just behind Murphy, taking fourth. "It was kind of a plan to try today. The goal was to get into a group in the first half of the week and see what we could take out of it. I was quite pleased today, even though they got rid of me on the last climb with about eight or ten kilometres to go. If I am lucky enough to get clear in two or three days time I should be better, as I was quite tired starting the race. I had a heavy week last week, work-wise, so my legs weren't in the best of shape yesterday. But they felt better today.

"It is going to be hard for the teams to control the race if the weather is bad. If it is not nice and sunny, it is much harder to keep a grip on the race. We'll see how things work out, but if the legs are good I'll certainly try again."

1 Chris Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 4.11.11
2 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Trinity Capital
3 Conor Murphy (Irl) Grant Thornton 1.12
4 Philip Cassidy (Irl) cycleways.com 1.49
5 John Tanner (GBr) Trinity Capital 2.21
6 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk
7 Mark Lovatt (GBr) Trinity Capital
8 Tim Barry (Irl) Dan Morrissey
9 Gary Dodd (GBr) SurreyRacing League 2.26
10 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena

General classification after stage 2

1 Chris Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 7.04.29
2 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Trinity Capital 0.08
3 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Sparebanken Vest 2.16
4 Kevin Dawson (GBr) Trinity Capital 2.23
5 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 2.32
6 Tim Barry (Irl) Dan Morrissey
7 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena 2.37
8 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Sparebanken Vest
9 Conor Murphy (Irl) Grant Thornton 4.20
10 Stuart Gillespie (USA) TIAA-CREF 4.30