On the second stage of the Rás Tailteann on Thursday, the spotlight was stolen by Irish cyclists, Conn McDunphy from Skyline-Cadence (USA) and Liam O’Brien from Team Ireland. They both executed an exceptional attack during the later part of the race to Sneem and concluded in that sequence.
O’Brien, a rider for Team Ireland, made his manoeuvre shortly after the day’s second last ascent, Coomakista – a Category Two climb, and was strengthened by McDunphy’s arrival. They worked in tandem for most of the remaining 42 kilometres, although McDunphy pulled back just before the final sprint.
“Liam and I broke away from the crowd with about ’40K’ left,” McDunphy commented. “He’s dynamite. I was putting my best foot forward, and made sure he knew it. We stood toe-to-toe, and him being fair, took the lead in the uphill runs.
“As we entered the circuit I got a premonition that I might be able to beat him in the end. I reassured him we were going all out. And then with a 3k stretch left, I hung back. I strategised and then in the last 50 metres dash, I overtook him.”
O’Brien, feeling dejected with the second place said, “I felt a little tricked. He stopped cooperating with four K left. I believe I was probably the superior one, but when it is down to just the two, it’s challenging to get an advantage, because you only need to consider one competitor.”
O’Brien, a brilliant young rider of just 18, is part of Lidl-Trek Future Racing team, a stepping-stone to the Lidl-Trek WorldTour squad and had an impressive finish, placing third overall in the Flèche du Sud earlier in the month.
On the other hand, the race’s first-day leader, Alex Pritchard from Richardsons Trek DAS, came under strain during the strenuous climbs across the 183.8-kilometre stretch from Kanturk, particularly when faced with the first category Ballaghasheen and second category Coomakista, causing confusion amongst racers.
Paul Kennedy, the Irish cyclist who rides for Team USA: Skyline-Cadence, slid back from the second overall position he previously held. Dom Jackson, who was then third in the general classification and rides for UK: Foran CT, found himself spending a good amount of time in the trail group behind McDunphy and O’Brien. Jackson completed the race amongst the 16-man pursuit group, 32 seconds behind previous Rás champion, Dillon Corkery of Team Ireland.
Jackson and the others, O’Brien and McDunphy, finished with an identical time, yet Jackson was given the leading yellow jersey due to superior cumulative stage positions. The UK cyclist described the entire stage as “intensely challenging”. Despite having participated in the break the previous day, he was overwhelmed by fatigue in his legs.
Confident that he had lost his potential leader’s position with about 30km left, he was aware that his teammate had given everything to realise this potential. Regardless, the others in his group were aware of his previous day’s efforts and refused to collaborate. As a result, the gap gradually increased. The final hill saw a flurry of determined attempts to reach the top, with Jackson trailing in the last position. The descent was extremely quick.
An exhausted Jackson struggled to cross the finish line, the trailing man in the group. Though unsure if video footage existed of the event, he expressed his elation at having donned the leader’s jersey.
The Ireland-based British rider, George Peden from UK: Team PB Performance, finished third on the stage, 30 seconds behind, and plans to start Friday’s more level 154.8km race from Kenmare to Cahir ranked fourth in the competition. The final three stages remain unpredictable. For the time being, though, Jackson, O’Brien and McDunphy all sit on the same time, each player waiting for an opportunity to surge ahead.