George Kimber won stage 2 of the Dornan Ras Mumhan to take the overall lead.
Stage 1, the team time trial, went to Skyline, ahead of Trinity and Foran.
Time trial
First team off at 12:02, with E. Tarrant & Son Skoda Munster taking the roads of the 8.8km course. The team time trial began at 12:02 with E. Tarrant & Son Skoda Munster taking to the line first, posting a time of 10 minutes 11 seconds. The were followed by Cycling Ireland Junior team, who posted a time 7 seconds quicker. A succession of teams followed, none able to break the time of the national squad. The speeds were quick reaching well and above 52kph avg. Team Ireland were looking well with being fastest at the first split however, Team Skyline and Trinity racing soon caught up with Team Skyline proving to be the quickest team with a time of 09’52”35, with Liam Flanagan of North Carolina crossing the line first and so will head in to Stage 1 (b) in the yellow jersey. Trinity racing were not far behind with a time of 09’55”71. Foran CT, who won 2 stages last year, performed again giving a time of 10’03”62 putting them in third place. The teams made their way to An Riocht for a brief sit down before stage 1(b) began which is sure to be of great interest as the yellow jersey sets the tone and competition high.
The second stage took off from a ceremonial start in Castleisland on to Brosna before turning left on to a circuit in knocknagoshel. From the get go, Velo Revolution were on the attack and stringing out the bunch. This resulted in a 3 man break consisting of Lindsay Watson, George Mitchell and JB Murphy, however this was soon brought back by the main bunch with riders being dropped out the back on the climb up to Brosna. Once it entered the circuit in to Knocknagoshel, the probing attacks started to take affect with a 5 man break being made consisting of Tom Martin of Velo Revolution, Liam Crowley of UCD, George Kimber of Skyline, Luke Tuckwell of Trinity as well as Dominick Jackson of Foran CT who won a stage in last years Ras Mumhan . The 5 riders worked their way to a gap of 52 seconds with the closest to the peleton coming down to 38 seconds. Once the 5b mentioned riders settled in to the fourth and fifth circuit, there was no come back for the bunch. Luke Tuckwell from Trinity attacked however Tom Martin from Velorevolution was quick to shut it down. The pace was high wit George Kimber pressing on and applying pressure and it was between Kimber and Tuckwell for the win with George Kimber having the edge. Both were closely followed by Dom Jackson of Foran CT.
General classification leading in to Stage 2 sees George Kimber of Skyline in yellow, followed closely by Luke Tuckwell of Trinity by 1 second and Dom Jackson just 3 seconds off the yellow jersey.
Saturday's stage begins at 10, starts in Killarney and finishes in Sneem, covering 114 kilometres.
