Ras Report Day 3

Today was great it didn’t rain during the stage and the team did well, all finishing within a minute of the stage winner.

John Kenny went for the sprint out of the bunch but as of now we do not have the stage placings and the overall remains almost the same.


We moved up to number 24 car thanks to john Kenny’s ride yesterday.

The lads all brought extra bottles today and it seemed to work as none of them had to come back for extra food during the stage. This can be very tricky as the speed can go from 50 to 70 kilometres per hour in an instant, and you could be left in no mans land very easily.

During the stage Stephen decided to try and break Nialls one day old record for speed achieved while getting back on after a puncture.

He achieved 82 kph, but it was on a mountain road with twists and turns so it was a good effort, but yesterday’s record of 95 kph still stands.

There were reports today of a low flying military helicopter doing high speed manoeuvres near Killaloe but that was only Stephen getting back to the bunch.

The race was controlled all day by the New Zealand team pursuit squad who rode along between 45-55kph at the front protecting the jersey.

They let 9 guys up the road early on and the sprinters teams didn’t react quick enough so the break just managed to stay away.

We were all hoping Roger Aiken would win the stage but he was caught with just 500 metres to go.

Niall was delayed by a horrendous crash with 9 k to go where Brian McCrystal got face planted into a narrow bridge but Brian eventually finished and Niall did a mad ride to get back into the cavalcade before the end of the stage.

The level of bike handling in this race is very high with our guys doing really well.

It only rained once today during the stage but that was when Simon decided to stop and get us both wet.

4 of the pro teams have asked to ride the league next week but we told they would have to do marshaling for 2 weeks before they could ride. I think that has sorted them out

Tomorrow is big test over 183 kilometres and 7 categorised climbs in Kerry so the chances of a bunch finish are about as likely as Leitrim winning the all Ireland hurling championships.