You are here: home » news » FBD Rás, Ireland - Stage 1: Dan Craven Wins

FBD Rás, Ireland - Stage 1: Dan Craven Wins · 24/05/10

DunboyneTo Dundalk: 149km

Stage 1 went well, the plan for the day was to cover the moves without expending too much energy and then with the main climb of the day coming with 30km to go, have a strong presence in the front of the race and be vigilant on the climb and descent.

Right from the off the action was fast and furious until eventually a seven man group escaped. Seeing the danger, Dan Craven bridged immediately and quickly the eight riders set to work. With only three hotspot sprints offering time bonuses for today, it was important that we paid attention. Dan covered this well taking three 2nd places earning him a total of 6 seconds time bonus, in doing so he also featured in the KOM sprint.

The race was very active and continued to break and form throughout the stage. Matt Cronshaw was victim to an early crash but after a bike change came back to the group strongly. Eventually two riders managed to break clear and bridged across to the break to make a 10 strong lead group. On the final climb Dan tested his companions legs and went clear with one other rider, gaining up to 25 seconds lead. Dan took the KOM points securing the KOM jersey for today. However, with a long but not technical descent, the remaining six riders (after two riders were dropped on the climb) came back to Dan and the lead group of eight reformed.

Behind, a group of 40 riders had split from the peloton, containing the other four Rapha Condor Sharp riders. The lead group of eight stayed together coming into a technical finish and it was important to be at the front. Dan hit out early and was too strong for the other riders and went on to take the victory and the race lead in the process. Matt Cronshaw then backed this up coming in with the chase group closely followed by Chris Newton in another small chase group. Ben Greenwood and Jonathan Tiernan Locke both came home safely with the remainder of that 40 man group.

Dan explained how the race went for him:

“After 15km I jumped across on my own to a break of 7, most of the big teams had one rider each. After about 80km two riders came across, so then all big teams were represented. We worked really well together which was actually rather surprsing.”

“On the last King of the Mountains (KOM) I broke away with the David Pell from Drapac Porsche and finally won a KOM. We stayed away for 10km but 15km to the finish six of the initial break caught back up to us, once again we worked together really well. I attacked twice in the final 3km, my last attack was chased down by Mark McNally who kept going once he caught and passed me, he just kept going so I had a free ride for about 500meters in which time the 6 guys also latched back onto us. I started my sprint very late, somehow did not realize how close we were to the line but was still able to come around for the win as well as taking all the jerseys besides the young riders one.”

Full results »
www.fbdinsuranceras.com/event »


<  ·  >