STEPHEN GALLAGHER (An Post/Sean Kelly/Martin Donnelly/ Grant Thornton) won the overall title and the national road race champion, David O’Loughlin (Pezula Racing), won the high-profile final stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Skerries yesterday as Irish riders reclaimed control of Irish cycling’s showpiece.

CIARÁN POWER (Pezula Racing) put five days of misery behind him to win the stage and put himself right up in contention for what would be a sensational third FBD Milk Rás victory at the end of a 112 mile trip from Skibbereen to Clonmel that wrought havoc at the top of the general classification sheet where Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven) now holds the overall lead and former race leader, Stephen Gallagher (An Post/Sean Kelly), moves back up to within 10 seconds of reclaiming pole position.

DAVID McCANN (Ireland National Team) just can’t wait for tomorrow’s penultimate stage which takes the FBD Insurance Rás high into the Wicklow Mountains where he feels the destination of the overall title will be decided.

THE organiser of the FBD Insurance Rás has had to turn down a request from the Italian Cycling Federation to have their Olympic track team included in the line-up for this year’s showpiece which gets under way on Sunday week.