Gutsy Kenneally storms clear to claim sensational victory
And while the Pilltown man celebrated his success a new cycling legend may well have been introduced to racing fans as 20-year-old Ricardo Van der Velde, appearing in just his second stage race, took custody of the raceleader’s yellow jersey.
Yesterday, however, belonged to Kenneally, as he claimed his second ever stage victory in a race he has contested 11 times and it came after a period of uncertainty for the Pilltown man who was sidelined for a week, on antibiotics for cuts and anti inflammatory tablets for deep bruising after a high speed crash in the Shay Elliott Memorial a few weeks ago.
Up to that point he had won Rás Mumhan and had finished first or second in practically all of his races. Yesterday he punctured shortly after the start but there was no element of panic although he admitted that he was surprised at the speed that had already been generated by the peloton as he fought his way back up.
“I was doing 65 kilometres an hour just to get to the back of the bunch,” he said. “But I was in good company when I arrived. Chris Newton (twice winner) was at the back too.”
Newton, along with Stephen Gallagher of the young Murphy & Gunn/Sean Kelly professional team, was involved in one of several high speed attacks later on but he was missing when a 13 man breakaway group got together on the descent from Lecarrow, some 30 miles from the finish.
“They had 20 seconds on the bunch and I just managed to get across to them,” Kenneally admitted. “The speed was something ferocious. We averaged 42 kmh but we were doing 73 kmh at one point.”
With two Dutch riders in the group along with two Germans, Ryan Roth from the USA, Australian Peter McDonald and mountains leader Jesse Anthony from the US involved there was plenty of strength at the front.
The bunch stepped up a gear but the leaders responded to build up a lead of almost a minute and they were clinging on to this when one of the Dutch riders attacked a mile from the finish. Kenneally joined him and when the Dutch rider pulled over he continued on alone to produce the performance of his life.
“I was at the front when the Dutch guy attacked and I went with him,” he said. “He saw me and pulled over but I was already 100% committed and when he tried to get back on he failed.”
The Dutch were rewarded with the yellow jersey although Van der Velde admitted afterwards that it would be difficult to defend a three second lead.
“I was not aiming for the yellow jersey — I was thinking about the mountain jersey,” he said. “That’s why I attacked on the second last climb but Jesse Anthony took the points back on the next climb when the leading group got together and we worked really hard from then on.”
Paul Griffin and Mark Cassidy, both of whom were major contributors to the leading group, finished sixth and eighth, respectively, and the stage win makes Brian Kenneally the leading Irishman on General Classification — third overall and just five seconds behind Van der Velde. With only seven seconds separating the top 11 there is a lot of sorting to be done at the top of the GC.
“I am not thinking of overall victory right now but I must admit my legs felt good towards the end today,” Kenneally said. “I spent a week off work, resting up on the couch after the crash taking antibiotics for my elbow and anti inflammatory tablets to take down the swelling. I had a few hard days on the Tour of Ulster and when I did the test for the Irish Sports Council to try to get on the track squad I did huge wattage. It is a matter of fine tuning it now and we will see what happens.”
Today’s 106 mile stage takes the race to Sligo.
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