Today’s stage 2 of Rás Tailteann 2022 saw the riders faced with a 154.8k journey from Horse and Jockey to Castleisland.
After stage victory yesterday, race leader Matthew Teggart was presented with the race leaders Cycling Ireland yellow jersey which he would wear throughout stage 2. Rory Townsend who finished second in stage 1 would wear the Citybreak green jersey, Matteo Cigala the county riders Bective Stud blue jersey, Adam Stenson the stage winners FBD Insurance red jersey and Dean Harvey the KOM leaders Cycling Ireland polka dot jersey.
When the flag dropped at 11:05, the race took off at a blistering pace averaging 50 km/hr during the first 30 mins of racing.
The first break of the day came at 15km when Daire Feeley, Cork: Velo Revolution , Kevin McCambridge, Trinity Racing, and Mark Shannon, Clare: Burren CC went clear building a gap of 15s over the peloton. The peloton weren’t long to react and the race came back together going through Tipperary town. After back to back crashes going through Tipperary town, a group of 12 riders went clear including:
Hagan - Team Ireland
Malacarne - Trinity Racing
Hill - Spirit BSS
Chadwick - Embark-Bikestrong
Sutton - Brocar-Ale
Kes - West Frisia
O’Neill - Cycling Ulster
Maes - Cork: Velo Revolution
Feeley - Cork: Velo Revolution
MacCarter - Dublin: Spellman Port
Perrett - Dublin: Spellman Port
Doogan - Dublin: Orwell Wheelers
The leaders continued to work well together building a maximum gap of 1’40 over the chasing peloton being led by Team Ireland and Cycling Sheffield. As the leaders crossed the cat 3 KOH @ Freemount the leading group continued to whittle down as riders relentlessly attacked each other.
Approaching the cat 2 KOH @ Crags Cave, the breakaway fragmented as four riders went clear (Feeley, Sutton, Chadwick, Perrett) holding a gap of 30s over the chasing peloton. Going over the steep incline at Crags Cave, the breakaway split up as Sutton - Brocar-Ale made his bid for victory. Race leader Matthew Teggart made one last attempt to bridge the gap to the leaders on the climb but proved unsuccessful as Sutton ramped home for victory in Castleisland ahead of his breakaway colleagues.
As a result, Sutton, Brocar-Ale will now wear the race leaders Cycling Ireland yellow jersey into tomorrow’s stage 3.
Stage 2 winner– David Louis Sutton of the Spanish Brocar-Ale Team celebrates with his team mate
The stage in Castleisland today also honored the 50th anniversary of the winner of the Rás in 1972, the legendary Kerry rider, John Mangan from Killorglin.
Infamous for his racing exploits at home and abroad he was arguably one of the best-known athletes of his era and synonymous with the Rás. He was particularly well known on the roads of France, where he had a distinguished racing career, becoming somewhat of a household name as a result.
The race continues tomorrow Friday with stage 3, 172.1 kilometres from Newcastlewest to Lisdoonvarna. This features the category three ascent at the Burren after 150 kilometres followed by the category two climb of Corkscrew Hill at 162 kilometres before the finish ten kilometers later in Lisdoonvarna.
