Stage 3: Gort - Westport (145 km).
Highlights: Not broadcast yet (the stage is just over)
The third stage was the first one to feature some proper hills, but as it turned out more damage was done by a series of crashes caused largely by heavy rain. The crashes held up large numbers of riders and effectively ended the GC hopes of anyone who didn't make it back to the reduced field.
The day featured a heroic ride by a Norwegian, Sondre Hurum (Oneco-Mesterhus). Hurum got clear after a little over 70km and quickly joined up with three riders who had attacked a short time earlier, Eugene Moriarty (Meath East-Spin11), Tim Barry (Dan Morrissey-Speedy Spokes) and Gruffud Lewis (UK Youth). Just a few km later, both Barry and Lewis crashed, while Hurum dropped Moriarty and continued on solo with 50 km to go.
A reduced peloton reformed from two large chase groups after the final climb and started to reel him in, but they had a hard time doing so. In the final few km a series of attacks went off the front of the bunch, trying to bridge to Hurum. The most notable was by Philip Lavery (Node4) and Lars Vierbergen (Koga) with 3 km to go, but as with previous attempts they couldn't quite make it. Unfortunately for Hurum, the bunch swept up Lavery and Vierbergen with less than 2 km left and then caught him.
Earlier in the day Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post) had been amongst the many to crash, but unlike many others he made it back to the bunch and he took a dominant sprint victory.
I have mixed feelings that he's in the race this year: An Post Sean Kelly are a bit unfortunate that the two biggest races of their season, the Ras and the Tour of Belgium are on at the same time. If Bagdonas wasn't the defending champion, he'd presumably be leading their team in Belgium alongside Nico Eeckhout and it would be interesting to see if he could do something in what is in the greater scheme of things a more important race. But the Ras is probably even more important to his team because not only is it the biggest race in their sponsors home country, but it's also sponsored by their sponsor. Bagdonas is, in my view, the class of this year's field but as a result absolutely everyone will be marking him and I'd guess that every team with ambitions of winning will be trying to get rid of him on the toughest climbs.
An Post had their best ever year last season and they have expanded and strengthened their roster this year. As a result, they can send strong teams to two stage races simultaneously, with Bagdonas leading their contingent of Irish riders in Ireland, and Eeckhout doing likewise for a mostly Belgian selection in Belgium.
Full Report:
http://www.stickybottle.com/races-r...westport-win-after-late-bids-by-mccann-lavery
Stage rankings:
1. Bagdonas, Gediminas (An Post) 3h09'03"
2. Bialoblocki, Marcin (Node4) st
3. Eefting, Roy (Koga) st
4. Karwowski, Cameron (NZ National Team) st
5. Sarreboubee, Remi (AVC-Aix En Provence) st
6. Hunal, Martin (AC Sparta) st
7. Rostollan, Thomas (AVC-Aix En Provence) st
8. Hawkins, Peter (Metaltek) st
9. Sybrandy, Wouter (IG-Sigma Sport) st
10. Armstrong, Adam (Eurocycles) st
GC:
1. Lang, Pirmin (Atlas-Jakroo) 9h52'00"
2. Moss, James (Node4) st
3. Handley, Richard (Rapha) st
4. McConvey, Connor (An Post) st
5. Bialoblocki, Marcin (Node4) +12"
6. Baldo, Nicolas (Atlas-Jakroo) +20"
7. Bagdonas, Gediminas (An Post) +22"
8. Sarraboubee, Remi (AVC - Aix En Provence) +26"
9. Hunal, Martin (AC Sparta) st
10 Hawkins, Peter (Metaltek) st
Points:
1. Bagdonas, Gediminas (An Post)
KoH:
1. Craven, Dan (IG-Sigma Sport)
U23:
1. Handley, Richard (Rapha) 6h42'57"
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