Byrne clings to yellow jersey
Cigala ripped up the steep hill in the town at the end of the 115km finale ahead of Tom Mazzone (Isle of Man CC) and Richard Maes (Killarney CC).
When Byrne (VCUK Velochampion) crossed the line as part of the main group in the same time as the stage winner, he held the coveted yellow despite some ferocious attempts to take it from him.
“It was a brutally hard and fast stage with nine times up the climb,” said Cigala.
“There were very fast laps (10 in total) because a breakaway of four riders was away with four strong guys up there so the speed was really up to bring them back.”
With 2km remaining, Sean Lacey (Aqua Blue Academy) and Mark Dowling (Strata3/VeloRevolution) struck out for stage glory but Cigala soon made his move.
“At 1km to go I just said ‘I need to go’ now because Dowling was going to win.
“I sprinted until the last corner, caught him, and came out of it really fast and I held it to the line,” said Cigala.
The man who started second on general classification yesterday morning, Ronan McLaughlin (Aqua Blue Academy), had 16 seconds to make up if he was to win the race outright and even though he dug very deep, he ended up dropping one place to third overall.
The Donegal man was not too despondent as his biggest goal this season is the An Post Rás next month.
“I’m happy with where I’m at.
“Had you given me third on GC coming in this weekend I’d have taken it.
“The whole team is fairly depleted here. We had three guys out injured and a couple of lads are sick.
“Four weeks ago we had 11 riders for the race and now we were down to three.
“But shit happens, I’ve been sick myself; in and out of hospital for 10 days in February. I’m happy with where I’m at. The goal is the Rás, this wasn’t the aim. The Rás is the one I want to do well in.”
The race was a huge success from an Irish perspective as there were eight home riders in the top 10 yesterday (on the stage) and six in the top 10 overall.
Up-and-coming talent Conn McDunphy (Ireland U23 team) was ninth at 28 seconds in a career-best display while Mark Dowling and Eoin Morton (UCD-Fitzcycles.ie) were sixth and seventh at 22 seconds.
Leon Mazzone (Isle of Man CC) may have won the U23 classification but behind him were a string of Irishmen, including Dermot Trulock (Lucan CRC) and McDunphy, who were second and third.
Tom Mazzone pipped Cigala for the points jersey (45/36) while Eoin Morton was a runaway winner of the polka dot jersey.
The Ireland U23 team blitzed the team prize classification with each of their number doing well on every stage.
Conor Kissane (Killarney CC) impressed with an assured display to take the A2 category jersey though Colm Sheehan (Blarney CC) was tied on time with him.
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