Irish domestic amateur Damien Shaw came within a whisker of landing a stage win at the An Post Rás yesterday, emerging just metres short following a thrilling 160km of racing from Ballina to Ballinamore.

With five former winners on the start-line and a large overseas contingent competing, this weekend’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan certainly lives up to its name as one of the country’s foremost international stage races.

Kerry Group Rás Mumhan champion Mark Dowling has played down his chances of repeating his heroics of 12 months ago when the race rolls out of Killorglin on Friday.

Almost 10 years to the day since Mayo’s Davy O’Loughlin claimed an incredible solo stage win atop Carrick-On-Suir’s Seskin Hill in the latter stages of the An Post Rás, Austrian powerhouse Markus Eibegger did something remarkably similar in yesterday’s gruelling journey from Clonakilty.