Newton pips Evans on line to take Rás opener
In the history of the race only Shay O’Hanlon held the title for more than a year and that was back in the 1960’s when he won three of his four titles back to back.
Newton, who also won the title in 2003, admitted that the yellow jersey was not a target going into yesterday’s first stage which was fought out in torrential rain.
Fortunately the rain stopped and the sun appeared for the thrilling finish which saw the stage win snatched from Evans just as he was raising his right hand in victory having done everything else right.
He had taken time out recently to recover from a cold and said yesterday he felt rotten starting out but the 1996 winner enjoyed an armchair ride behind the various skirmishes that punctuated the trip.
The decisive move came 17k out when Martin Prazdnovsky of the Norwegian Sparebanken Vest team, who had been involved in much of the early action, escaped again and was joined by Evans and Bartlomeij Matysiak of the Polish Leiga Bazylisek team.
Then a select seven man group that included Newton, his team mate Robin Sharman, Morten Hegreberg from Norway who wore the yellow jersey for a stage last year, Joe McDonnell from Australia and Jehudi Schoonacker of the Sean Kelly/M. Donnelly team, set off in pursuit and merged with the three leaders seven kilometres from the finish.
With a kilometre to go Sharman attacked. “I let him open up a gap and then I chased him down,” recalled Evans who was seeking a sixth stage win. “I caught him with 600m to go and at 500m I had a bit of gap but I was really tying up.”
With the line in sight he glanced over his shoulder and saw Newton screaming up on the inside. He closed the door and was raising his hand in victory when the defending champion got up to deny him.
“That’s my eighth stage win and I would like to get it into double figures before the week ends,” said Newton.
“Every year it is harder to control this race so you just got to take it when you can. We have a strong team.”
His team mate Evan Oliphant finished over three minutes down after he was involved in a seven man crash just over 3k from the finish and that crash also ruined the overall chances of a leading Irish hope, Paul Healion (Murphy & Gunn/Newlynn).
“His bike was in bits and I was 25th in the cavalcade so it was over a minute before I reached him,” Team Manager, Declan Byrne, said. “It happened 500m or 600m outside the 3k and if it had been inside they would have got the same time as the bunch.
“It is disappointing but there are stage wins and the points jersey to go for.”
Ciaran Power (Dan Morrissey Tipperary) was up for the first KOM of the day and after figuring in the second as well he will wear the polka dot jersey going out on today’s stage from Enniscorthy to Cobh via New Ross, Waterford, Dungarvan By-Pass, Youghal, Killeagh and Castlemartyr before finishing at Cobh Cathedral at around 3.20pm.
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