The An Post Chain Reaction celebrated their second stage win in as many days at the Rás yesterday on a savage day that saw the field split to pieces.

Italian rider Francesca Reda is the first race leader of this year’s An Post Rás after a thrilling opening stage from Dunboyne to Carlow yesterday which saw the peloton lose over 10 minutes and Ian Richardson of UCD take the county rider prize.

New Zealand have a real star in the making in Patrick Bevin after he scorched to another stunning stage win on stage four of the An Post Rás in Caherciveen yesterday, ensuring he retains the leader’s yellow jersey at the halfway point.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche remains third overall at the Vuelta A Espana after finishing safely in the main bunch of yesterday’s 168-kilometre fifth stage from Sober to Lago de Sanabria in the north west of the country.

Sam Bennett capped a brilliant overall victory in the Suir Valley 3-Day last night when he won the final stage on the punishing uphill finish just outside Clonmel.

The An Post Chain Reaction outfit are the men to beat in this weekend’s Suir Valley 3-Day in Clonmel, Tipperary.

As huge sharks converge on the west coast, one photographer has a VERY close encounter.

It was as easy as one, two, three for the An Post Chain Reaction team yesterday as Sam Bennett led teammates Nicholas Vereeken and Shane Archbold over the line in Skerries for a clean sweep of the podium places on the last stage of the An Post Rás.

Burt 3-14 Sean MacCumhaills 1-12

Irish pair Ronan McLaughlin (An Post Sean Kelly) and Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport) endured difficult days yesterday on the sixth stage of the Tour of Britain while McLaughlin’s team-mate Sam Bennett was forced to pull out with a knee injury.

Ireland will have four representatives in the Tour of Britain which starts tomorrow in Ipswich.

Another cracking day’s racing on the An Post Rás saw the Swiss team play pass the parcel with the yellow jersey as Nicolas Baldo took over the race lead and young Frenchman Thomas Rostollan lived up to his nickname of ‘little motorbike’ to claim stage three into Buncrana.

A victory by Danish sprinter Mark Pedersen of the Blue Water Cycling team on stage four of the An Post Rás was overshadowed by an epic ride by An Post Sean Kelly rider Ronan McLaughlin yesterday.

Nicolas Roche was again best of the Irish on the toughest stage of the Tour of the Algarve yesterday, finishing 11th, 44 seconds behind stage winner Richie Porte (Team Sky).

There’s a cracking Phil Liggett line from the 1989 World Championships in France when the ITV anchor turns to his American counterpart Brian Malessa and said: “Brian, I think Sean Kelly told Fignon in broad Irish exactly what he thought of that idea,” after Fignon gestured for the Irishman to go to the front of the chase group to catch leader Steve Bauer.

Rónán McLaughlin’s photographic calendar will help restore Cobh’s Old Yacht Club, writes Tina O’Sullivan

A CYNIC might suspect that birder and photographer Ronan McLaughlin this month choked Cuskinny Marsh of its oxygen — and consequently its marine life — as a stunt for the upcoming launch of his calendar collection of exquisite wildlife photography, and to make his images all the rarer, as he has tracked the months and the seasons on this widely-sung and justly-appreciated marsh beauty spot.

RACE LEADER Gediminas Bagdonas (Belgium An Post/Sean Kelly) thanked Irish team-mate Sam Bennett for helping him hang on to the yellow jersey by the slender margin of 32 seconds as the sixth stage of the An Post Rás ended in Tramore yesterday after an action-packed 104-mile trip from Blarney.

LITHUANIAN rider Gediminas Bagdonas of the An Post Sean Kelly team holds a one minute and 16 second lead at the halfway point of the Rás after he defended the yellow jersey by winning the fourth stage into Castletownbere in miserable conditions yesterday.

An Post Sean Kelly team manager Kurt Bogaerts today named his team for the 59th edition of the Rás, which starts in Dunboyne this Sunday.

With the An Post Sean Kelly cycling team announced yesterday for this Sunday's FBD Insurance Rás, breakingnews.ie has compiled a short history of the cycling team in the lead up to the tournament.

The cycling team which bears the name of Irish cycling legend Seán Kelly has outlined an ambitious list of targets for the coming season and revealed that they are upping a gear in a bid to land success.

COLOMBIAN Fabio Duarte took his country’s first amateur world road race title at the U23 cycling championships in Varese, Italy, yesterday.

TIPPERARY show jumper Denis Lynch put himself top of the Global Champions Tour leaderboard on Saturday, when he placed fourth in Monte Carlo.

Tipperary born Shane Breen chalked up Ireland's first victory at the weekend Derby Meeting in Hickstead, England, this afternoon.

CIARÁN POWER (Pezula Racing) may have been dumped on the scrapheap when the Sports Council were handing out their grants to elite sports people, but he was at the top of the pile yesterday evening when he won the opening stage of the Pauline Sugrue Auctioneers Rás Mumhan into Killorglin.

THIS is Olympic year so we can expect big things from Ciarán Power — the most experienced Irish professional in the peloton — according to Martin O’Loughlin, who is former manager of the Olympic cycling team.

TRALEE’S Denis Dunworth has been named in the An Post Sean Kelly Development squad for the traditional Pauline Sugrue/Ras Mumhan 4-Day International Cycle Race over the Easter weekend.

CYCLING legend, Sean Kelly, unveiled his new An Post-sponsored cycling team at the GPO in Dublin yesterday and promised some big performances from the 14-man squad which is comprised of a mix of six Irish and eight foreign riders.