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FBD Rás, Ireland - Stage 2 & 3 · 26/05/10

After the third stage of the Rás, Rapha Condor Sharp still hold the yellow jersey on the shoulders of the in-form Dan Craven who won the opening stage.

Stage 2

Going into the second day of the race, assistant team manager Phil West had adopted an approach to defending the jersey that would minimise the energy expended by the team. It was no surprise to see to Rapha Condor Sharp riders in the lead group in the form of Ben Greenwood and Matt Cronshaw. With those two in the break the chasing was left to other teams, notably the Spanish Burgos team if they were to have any hope of taking the stage or the yellow jersey. All appeared poised for an exciting finale until 35km to go, on the rolling roads toward the finish, a car met the bunch on a blind right hand bend having failed to stop, bringing down several riders and stopping the race.

No Rapha Condor Sharp riders were injured in the crash, but with several members of the Burgos squad injured seriously enough to require hospitalisation, the stage was stopped and the general classification neutralised.

Stage 3: Carrick On Shannon – Oughterard, 171km

Featuring two categorised climbs, the first at 40km to go, the final one just 20km before the finish. With the potential for attacks to be launched the plan was to keep the team close together and vigilant coming into the climbs, before applying pressure in order to neutralise the race. Out on the road it seemed that other teams had more ambitious plans and the team were forced to respond to a number of attacks before placing two riders into the lead group after 80km. With no representation in that attack it fell to team Thuringer Energie to chase, eventually bringing the group back only to see Simon Richardson, Wouter Sybrandy and David O’Loughlin counter attack, gaining a lead of 3 minutes.

As the bunch approached the first climb, Rapha Condor Sharp rode a gruelling tempo, enough to split the bunch, leaving just 40 riders at the front, and to cause the break’s lead to collapse, tumbling from 1m50 with 10km to go to just 17secs at the finish.

Reminding the rest of the bunch of his excellent form, Dan Craven took 4th in the bunch gallop in his yellow jersey, 8th on stage with his lead safe for another day.

Today sees the bunch tackle 169km from Oughterard – Tipperary including two 3rd category climbs.

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