Belgian wins first stage of Tout of Ireland

Stijn Vandenbergh won Wednesday’s opening stage of the Tour of Ireland after 174km from Kilkenny into Cork.

The Belgian rider from the Unibet.com team emerged from a ten-man breakaway group on the second and final passage up the short but steep St Patrick’s Hill climb in Cork City to take a solo win on the South Mall road.

After a number of early escape efforts were reeled in by the peloton, the decisive break escaped on the approach to the Vee climb in Tipperary after 60km, and the twelve riders worked well together to build a thirteen minute advantage on the bunch.

With the main bunch out of contention and the stage winner sure to emerge from the breakaway group, the leaders, now down to ten, eased off on the approach to St Patrick’s Hill, to save their legs for the decisive selection.

An attack by CSC’s Marrus Ljungqvist split the group on the first passage up the hill, but the riders regrouped on the descent, and then it was Vandeberg who had the best climbing legs on the second passage to surge clear, opening a 14-second gap that he held to the finish.

The news was less good from an Irish perspective, with no Irish rider getting into the day’s decisive move. To make matters work, illness forced Nicolas Roche, co-leader of the Irish national team, to drop out two hours into the stage.

The five-day race continues on Thursday’s with a difficult second stage from Clonakilty to Killarney over five climbs, where race leader Vandenbergh will need the full support of his strong Unibet.com squad if he is to defend his yellow jersey from the attacks that are sure to come thick and fast.