Conor Murnane survives chaotic finish to win Stage 2 of Rás Mumhan
Conor Murnane cyclist
Conor Murnane took a brilliant sprint victory on the second stage of the Kerry Group Ras Mumhan into Sneem Saturday, narrowly avoiding a crash just metres before the finish line.
The 24-year old UCD CC rider somehow managed to stay upright as he tangled with a rider from the UK-based TAAP Cervelo team who hit the deck, while race leader Lindsay Watson also avoided the chaos and held the yellow jersey for another day.
The stage was a nail-biter from the drop of the flag outside Killarney today as the riders headed back for Killorglin and along the exposed roads to Waterville via the category one ascent of the Ballaghisheen Pass.
It was there where much of the damage was done as race leader Watson along with his All Human - VeloRevolution Team did much of the patrolling and pace-setting, deterring attacks and keeping Watson safe towards the head of affairs.
After that category one climb en route to Waterville, two large groups formed at the front and eventually emerged, with the remains of the peloton a couple of minutes back the road.
Following an intense period of attacking inside the closing 40 kilometres, a trio of Darnell Moore (All Human-VeloRevolution), local man John Brosnan of Killarney CC and former An Post-Chainreaction rider David Montgomery, riding for Spellman Dublin Port went clear and they rode very well together.
Moore was the race leader on the road at that point as their gap extended to over a minute, and as he started the day just a few seconds down on his teammate it looked like he would take yellow.
Alas, a concerted chase from the second group on the road - featuring Watson - caught them inside the final kilometre which paved the way for a sprint containing just 27 riders.
Niall McLoughlin of the Cycling Ireland Junior Team got up for a brilliant second place as Ben Fish (TAAP/Cervelo) rounded out the stage podium in third.
Watson is the man to beat at the midway point, but he has 11 others breathing down his neck within 23 seconds.
Darragh McCarter (Spellman Dublin Port Cycling Team) is at two seconds, while Monte Guerini of Foran Construction CC is a further six seconds back in third.
Watson also leads the green points´ and climber´s classification. Dean Harvey is the best-placed U23 rider while Niall McLoughlin is the best-placed junior.
Tomorrow´s penultimate stage starts and finishes in the north Cork town of Knocknagree and features two third category climbs, the latter coming inside 20 kilometres to go.
At 107 kilometres and almost 1,200 metres of climbing it is a stage that will be very hard to control, meaning Watson will need to be vigilant.
But the Banbridge man has been equal to everything thrown at him so far and looks very much like the man to beat.
1 Conor Murnane UCD CC; 2 Niall McLoughlin Cycling Ireland Junior Team @s/t; 3 Ben Fish TAAP/Cervelo @s/t
General Classification: 1 Lindsay Watson (All Human Velo Revolution); 2 Darragh McCarter (Spellman Dublin Port Cycling Team); 3 Monte Guerini (Foran CC).
Points Classification: Lindsay Watson (All Human Velo Revolution) U23 Classification; Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port Cycling Team) Junior Classification: Niall McLoughlin Cycling Ireland Junior Team ENDS
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