Stage 2 rolled out from St Oliver’s National School at 9:45 with a neutralised start through the streets of Killarney. The race set for Killorglin reaching incredible speeds of 70kph. The bunch was strung out from the outset with the riders eyes on getting to the narrow roads around carragh lake heading for the Cat 1 climb the infamous Bealach Oisin. Winds were hitting from left to right. Earlier attacks from Nathan Mullan and Chris Donald were subsumed back in to the bunch. Attacks were hot and heavy until Daire Feely and Thomas Springbett were able to hold a gap of 8s going through Killorglin.
3 riders, Joe Nathan Mater, Conor Prendergast, Jamie Philips and Adam Lewis, were able to ride across to the 2 ahead and the gap went out to 36 seconds. This group were absorbed by the bunch at the base of the Bealach Oisin. With the winds in the valley of the Cat 1, the bunch was split to pieces with echelons all over the road. Cresting the climb, the main protagonists were set to animate the race and define its final outcome.
Heading into Waterville, a group of 14 riders opened a gap of 55 seconds with 3 Trinity Racing riders, 2 UCD riders, Conn McDunphy, Dom Jackson, Daire Feely all working to stretch the gap to what was made to be 2 minutes and 30 seconds with 30 km remaining in the race.
George Kimber, overnight yellow jersey holder, and his Team Embark Spirit organised a chase to try and pull back the break, however, this did not work out for them as they lost further time before they hit the town of Sneem going into the lap in Tahilla.
In the chasing group there was a lot of contesting riders who didn’t manage to make the break and the race all but gone from them at this stage. On the climb out of Tahilla, 4 riders made the decisive move to attack and break away leading to a final sprint on to the finish line in Sneem. Out of these 4 riders, Conn McDunphy, Luke Tuckwell, Tom Martin and Daire Feely, Feely had the edge and pulled a brilliant victory to a glorious reception in Sneem, while Tuckwell 3rd place brought him in to the yellow jersey. Daire Feely is now 53s down on the yellow jersey.
Mark Murphy reports
