Tiernan-Locke scales Seskin
The notorious mile-long climb that was once graced by local stars like Sean Kelly and former Rás great, Bobby Power, who was on the summit to greet the riders provided the first major climb of the week for a peloton that took another battering at Emly, Ireland’s Tidy Towns winner, where a major pile-up resulted in four riders being brought to hospital in Clonmel – three with broken collarbones – and detached another 60 riders from the main bunch. As a result the last group arrived at Seskin Hill 35 minutes behind the stage winner.
The crash will put a strain on the Austrian rider, Josef Kugler (Arbo KTM-Gebruder Weis), who admitted that the loss of one of his team mates, Lars Pria, who broke his collarbone, could have an effect on his bid to wipe out the eight-second margin that separates himself and Wetterhall.
