Marden makes decisive dash
Mike Friedman (TIAA-CREF) took custody of the yellow jersey from his American team-mate Danny Pate and two-time winner Chris Newton moved back up into contention just 22 seconds off the lead repairing most of the damage inflicted the previous day.
It was not as dramatic as the stage from Enniscorthy when the four-man breakaway group wrought havoc at the top of the general classification but, with Newton moving back into contention and that quartet all missing out on the action at the business end, the status quo was more or less restored.
1996 winner, Tommy Evans (IRC Usher Insulation) moved up into fourth place overall, 30 seconds off the lead, Simon Kelly (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group) jumped eight places to sixth, David O’Loughlin (Ireland Grant Thornton) moved from 13th to seventh and Brian Kenneally (MyHome.ie/Cycleways) is now in ninth position.
It was a fitting victory for Marden, who held off the fast finish of Lukasz Modzelewski (Poland Legia Bazylisek) and Clonmel man Mehall Fitzgerald (Meath MyHome.ie/Cycleways).
The 23 year-old from Sydney had been in a 30-man leading group for most of the trip and made his move at the right time to snatch his first win of the season.
“About 4k out two or three went off the front. I just hung back and waited for the sprint and then at the bottom of the corner I had a clear run in and I just launched it from there,” he said. “We came here with the goals to get a stage win or get a jersey for a day or so. We have achieved that so now anything is a bonus for us.”
“The sprint went well,” Mehall Fitzgerald conceded. “I had the best wheel possible. I was on Chris Newton’s wheel and he went early with 500m to go but coming into the corner Marden got the jump and got a lead of seven or eight lengths by the time I got wound up. I was always catching him but it was too late.”
Fitzgerald, with five stage wins to his credit has made no secret of his promise to equal Bobby Power’s six, and yesterday he was always close to the front and reacted swiftly when fellow Clonmel man Ray Clarke (Dan Morrissey) launched the attack at the county bounds that would eventually set up the finish.
There were four riders in the lead at that time — survivors of an eight man break that split on the climb up to the KOH — and this was the first significant move by the Irish riders since the race started. Clarke was joined by Fitzgerald, John O’Shea (Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn), Fermoy man Michael Hennessy (Cork Murray Ford Developments), Corkman Michael O’Reilly (Galway Velotec.ie), Sean Lacey (Kerry Earl of Desmond) and Peter Hey (Yorkshire JE James RT) who was dropped by the Munster men before they merged with the leaders approaching Killarney.
Their lead went to 2:15 before Newton left the main bunch, taking 19 other riders with him but leaving the top four on general classification behind.
With the Americans at the front and happy to let Mike Friedman take his chance in the lead group, the margin grew to 3 mins 28 secs before the Canadians, Poles and Sean Kelly/M. Donnelly teams took over but they were never going to catch the leaders.
Friedman gladly accepted the yellow jersey from team-mate Pate, who finished three and a half minutes down.
“I had been doing some really hard racing in Europe and I think I have benefited from that,” explained Friedman.
“I have the jersey now but I can only take one day at a time. The team is strong, Danny and I are right here together and I am here for the team.”
There was a special presentation to Paudie Fitzgerald, who won the Rás in 1956, at the end of yesterday’s stage with the bike on which he was victorious on display in the shop window across from the finish line.
Today’s stage will take the race to Listowel, taking in Dun Chaoin (11.29), Baile an Fheirtearaigh and Baile na Haith before returning to An Daingean and travelling on via Castlemaine, Firies, Farranfore, Castleisland and the only Category 1 climb at The Maum (2pm), Finuge and finishing in Listowel about 2.45.
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