‘Driven’ Power makes point with opening stage victory

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.

The two-time Olympian rode clear of a four-man leading group — remnants of an earlier breakaway group of nine — to win the stage, 14 seconds ahead of the other three and immediately insisted he had made the trip to Killorglin not just to win the race but to make a statement.

“I did not get a grant this year from the Sports Council and to say that I was disappointed would be an understatement,” he said. “But what I found even more annoying was the fact that Cycling Ireland would not even forward my appeal. Every time I ride a race I am driven by that and every time I win I will make a point of it.”