Stage 1 of the Suir Valley 3 day was won today by JLT Condors Stephen William’s in a close finish between 4 riders. The stage started off slowly after a few riders had a mechanicals but after all riders got back together the racing started and a group of 12 riders broke clear after 7kms (Williams, Hennessey, Richardson, Coleman, Marks , McNamara, Hales, Coleman, O’Callaghan, Feeley, McLaughlin, Yelverton and Porter).
The race sped onto the first hotspot sprint of the day and this was won Robin Garry, with Jon Mould and Fintan Ryan 2nd and 3rd , onto Mitchelstown which was in Festival mode and the 12 riders extended their time on the main group to over a minute at the bottom of the 1st KOM which was won by Daire Feeley followed by Elliott Porter and Ben Mark. The company of 12 regrouped after the Gloccamaurra climb before the headed for Fermoy which had great crowds out for our second hotspot of the day won my Mark O’Callaghan, Fitzharris and MacNamara respectively and local rider Michael Hennessey of Fermoy Hennessey cycles got a great response coming though his hometown.
Onwards to and through the beautiful and scenic Tullow and Lismore and there was a lot of action in the peloton between mechanicals, feeding and attacking but the real action was on the climb of the Vee out of Lismore where the company of 12 split had enough of each other and they split into 2 groups 4 (Williams, Richardson, Coleman, Feeley) , 4 @37secs(Hennessey, McLaughlin, Yelverton, Mark ) with the remainder of the lead group spread between the front and the peloton which was at 2mins 48secs . During all this action it was noted that the most aggressive rider between all of the groups on the road was Simon Ryan of Megoraw Cycles due to his constant attacking trying to get away and was subsequently awarded the prize for the day and will start the morning in the combined jersey but the day was always going to be one of the front group of 4 riders Stephen Williams JLT Condor, Ian Richardson UCD, Douglas Colman – Spirit bikes, and Daire Feeley – Team iTap who were going to win the day but it was the Welshman JLT Condors Stephen William’s who had the legs and took the spoils.
The Race Organisation would again like to thank our sponsor’s and the people of Cahir for their great support of our First Finish in the Town Centre, and please follow us on Facebook & Twitter for live updates @suirvalley3day #SV3day and RT
Suir Valley 3 Day Stage 1 Communiqué Click to Download PDF
Suir Valley 3 Day -Cahir Results Click to Download PDF
