Craven wins opening stage of FBD Insurance Rás

Dan Craven (Rapha Condor Sharp) won today’s opening stage of the FBD Insurance Rás from Dunboyne to Dundalk after he bested Mark McNally of the An Post Sean Kelly team to the line in glorious sunshine.

The English professional was active throughout the day’s 149 kilometre relatively flat stage and showed a clean pair of wheels to his fellow countryman, sprinting clear and taking the yellow jersey, albeit by a mere seven seconds.

It was a 1-2-3 for British riders on today's opening stage as Kit Gilham of the Sigmasport Specialized team rolled in four seconds after McNally for third place.

It was some consolation for Liverpudlian McNally as he claimed the best U23 rider while Craven olds both the points and mountains jerseys.

The race, as expected was aggressive from the outset with a number of attacks going away. 50 kilometres were covered in the first hour of racing and with a number of crashes it was clear that the bunch was hesitant, perhaps owing to the blistering temperatures that clearly took its toll on an exhausted bunch.

An eight-man breakaway did manage to stay clear and in it were Kit Gilham(Britain Sigmasport Specialised), Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp), Michael Singer(Austria Arbö KTM-Gebrüder Weis), David Pell(Australia Drapac Porsche), Mark McNally(Belgium An Post Sean Kelly), Masaaki Kikuchi(Japan - Nippo), Alexander Wetterhall(Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro), Andrew Roche(Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta).

These worked well together and along with sweeping up all KOM points and Hot Spot sprints managed to put over two minutes into the chasing group of around 49 riders.

Tomorrow is another relatively flat stage with just one category 2 climb up the Bellavalley Gap outside Glangevlin so a bunch sprint is likely.

Overall standings after stage one:

1, Dan Craven (Rapha Condor Sharp) 3 hours 28 mins 12 secs

2, Mark McNally (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) at 7 secs

3, Kit Gilham (Britain Sigmasport Specialized) at 11 secs

4, Masakki Kikuchi (Japan – Nippo) at 12 secs

5, David Pell (Australia Drapac Porsche) same time

6, Andrew Roche (Motorpoint Marshall’s Pasta) at 16 secs