Bagdonas takes stage over Archbold

Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post Sean Kelly) recorded his second win of the An Post Rás, after powering to victory in a mass bunch sprint at the finish in Castletownbere, Cork. The victory ensured he remained in the yellow jersey, although he didn't extend his lead of 1:16 as the first group of 36 riders home contained all his closest rivals in the overall standings.

Day two's holder of the yellow jersey, Shane Archbold (New Zealand National Team) took second place in the sprint, while Stuart Shaw (Australian Drapac Cycling) finished third. As yesterday's top three in the third stage, Nikolay Mihaylov (France AVC Aix en Provence), Oleksandr Sheydyk (Ukraine ISD Lampre) and Briton Peter Williams (Motorpoint) were all involved in the sprint finish, the overall standings remain the same. Bagdonas leads with Sheydyk second and Mihaylov third.

Today's scenic stage down to the Cork coast saw the riders take on some serious hills in appalling conditions. Predictably the weather ensured the peloton were always close behind any breakaways, with two minutes being the largest gap along the 142 kilometre route. By the time the race had reached the famous Healy's Pass, which appeared 20 kilometres from the finish; a lead group of just over twenty riders had been caught.

The group swelled to almost double its size and with 15 kilometres to go Bagdonas attacked, bringing fifteen riders with him. He didn't make it too far as they were reeled in again, but proving his first victory wasn't a once off he found the energy to sprint home and retain the yellow jersey in the process.

After yesterday's stage Bagdonas had expressed some nerves about the mountainous routes ahead of him, but after taking another win he felt confident at the halfway point of the eight day race.

"It was a nice race again. I like the rain; it's my type of weather! [Winning the race] It's possible. Why not now? Today I had good luck, I tried my hardest in the sprint and I won. We will see what happens tomorrow."

An Post Sean Kelly team manager, Kurt Bogaerts, remains pleased at how the race is unfolding and he now thinks Bagdonas has a real chance of holding onto his lead.

"It makes me really happy, the way the team is racing. Already this year we have the same amount of wins as last year - two. For me that's a big success. Now we will go for the overall (classification) and maybe other stage wins. I want to get the maximum out of this race,” Bogaerts said.

"Everyone has seen how strong Gediminas (Bagdonas) is, and how strong the team is. He has a great opportunity to win the race now, but the Rás is always tricky," he added.

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