Conn McDunphy climbs into yellow jersey as Wicklow mountains tear up Ras script

Conn McDunphy took over the race lead and moved into the yellow jersey after a storming performance on the penultimate stage through the Wicklow mountains. A route change removed one major climb at Glenmalure due to bad surface on the descent, but he used seven other climbs to break clear with a group of seven riders on the Wicklow Gap. He drove the advantage to win the stage in Baltinglass by more than two minutes over the main bunch and took overall lead by 52 seconds. The stage included riders such as Rowen Baker, Karl Hall, Tom Martin, Joshua Dike, and several Irish competitors. McDunphy set a strong pace on the run-in, while Martin won the stage sprint and later finished sixth overall on the day.

"A route change announced before the start may have taken out one of the major climbs at Glenmalure due to a bad surface on the descent, but McDunphy made full use of the seven other climbs instead, forging clear in a group of seven riders on the Wicklow Gap and driving on their advantage to finish over two minutes in front of the main bunch at the stage end in Baltinglass to lead the race overall by 52 seconds."

"Having started the day just 14 seconds off the race lead of Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase), McDunphy did most of the driving on the 25km run-in to Baltinglass from Wicklow Gap in the knowledge that he was riding into yellow, while Martin played his cards as a dutiful teammate of Shoreman and sat on the back of the group."

"A clearly fatigued McDunphy, riding for the US-based APS Pro Cycling team, ignored the attacks in the closing kilometres and continued to set the pace as Martin jumped clear to win the stage two seconds ahead of Dike, eventually crossing the line in sixth on the stage, 27 seconds later, behind Baker, Mackie and Hall."

""The stage was so hard from the off, there was no let-up," said English stage winner Martin afterwards. "It kept splitting and coming back, so I thought it would be best to get ahead in a little move. "Obviously, with the yellow jersey behind, I could take it easier. On the Wicklow Gap I was under pressure, but I felt great"

Read at Irish Independent