O’Brien storms into yellow in Rás Mumhan

Former An Post/Sean Kelly rider Páidí O’Brien blasted to victory in the opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin last night, putting his deadly finishing kick to good use on the sharp uphill finish to outsprint Denis Bakker (Ruiter Dakkapellen) and local man Dan Clifford (DID Dunboyne).

O’Brien, now riding for the Dan Morrissey/Speedy Spokes outfit won the final stage last year and took up where he left off, profiting from selfless work from his team-mates at the front.

“The team rode excellently,” O’Brien beamed at the finish. “I knew I had a good chance if I could get the position right. I was worried about being in the right spot coming in there. I knew I had a good turn of speed and the lads were very good to put me where I needed to be.

“Timmy Barry helped to close a gap to a couple of guys who were away, and Fitzy (Mick Fitzgerald) and Joe Fenlon tried to keep me out of the wind.

“Joe gave a good dig down into the bridge to get me to about fourth and I kicked then and didn’t look back. There was a small few gaps in the top four so I had to go early if I wanted the win, and thank God, it paid off.”

The Banteer native wears the yellow jersey for today’s Queen stage where a summit finish atop the Conor Pass is expected to wreak havoc with the peloton. However, his team-mate and defending champion Sean Lacey didn’t have such a good day, crashing with 10k to go.

“There was a crash before Milltown, about 10k to go and he got caught up in it,” said O’Brien. “He’s not hurt but he didn’t get back up to the front. But with the Conor Pass stage tomorrow he’s still in a good position.”

Today’s second stage features four categorised climbs. The category one ascent of the Conor Pass after 120kms is set to shake up general classification.

Elsewhere, Ireland’s Martyn Irvine secured his ticket to the Olympics after finishing seventh the omnium (multiple race) event at the Track World Championships at Melbourne yesterday.

Irvine rode consistently over Thursday and Friday in the six-event omnium with five top 10 finishes ensuring a high overall finish. Ireland held on as the seventh European nation and thus inside the top eight required to secure a slot for Ireland. A delighted Irvine tweeted last night: “WOW! Wish I could thank everyone individually but that would take forever! Thanks for all the support, it overwhelming! One more job to do.”