Craven escapes the carnage to dominate stage

DAN CRAVEN (Rapha Condor Sharp) started cycling in a tiny town in an outback of Namibia before joining a cycling club when he went to University near Cape Town and yesterday he conducted his own master class when he won the opening stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Dundalk.

The Namibian, whose mother’s father was Irish and whose father’s family left Yorkshire in the 1800’s, will go into today’s second stage to Carrick-on-Shannon wearing the yellow jersey on a UCI tour for the first time.

He has a slender seven second lead over Mark McNally from Liverpool who rides for the An Post/Sean Kelly team after fighting out an exciting two-man sprint along Clanbrassil Street.