An Post Chain Reaction took their first win of the Rás so far this week with a trademark sprint from Aaron Gate as Clemens Fankheuser retained the yellow jersey by the skin of his teeth once again.

Taco van der Hoorn of the Dutch Join-S de Rijke squad won yesterday’s opening stage of the An Post Rás on a day that saw 40-year old ex-Irish Olympian Ciarán Power roll back the years and barrel in for a mighty result of his own.

Nicolas Roche had an encouraging start to the Giro d’Italia yesterday when he posted a time of 11 minutes 33 seconds for the opening stage of the three-week race.