Hawkins snatches yellow in Nenagh

It was all change on the An Post Rás yesterday as a seemingly flat second stage delivered a new stage winner and another Irish race leader into Nenagh.

Overnight leader Conor Dunne had been active throughout the 160-kilometre trek from Longford to Nenagh and he managed to mark most of the moves on his own but when a 10-man breakaway slipped clear of a larger 30-strong lead group in the final 25km yesterday, Dunne found himself alone at the head of the chase again and this time fighting a losing battle.

“I was feeling good but it was always going to be tough to defend because it’s hard to ask so much of the boys,” Dunne said of his Tipperary Iverk Produce county team of domestic part- timers. “I felt I could do it if I just watched the groups and not let anyone get too far. A big group went and I had to ride, so I just went as hard as I could. I just rode and didn’t look back. I got across to them and then I was isolated on my own in that group and there was still 30km to go. It was tough to chase on my own trying to cover the moves. When the 10 guys went, nobody wanted to work with me and I just had to ride as hard as I could to try and bring it back. The Rapha team helped me towards the end, which I was thankful for, but we didn’t manage to bring the gap down enough.”