Patrick Bevin attacks earns stage 2 win at An Post Ras

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Patrick Bevin (New Zealand National Team) recorded a solo victory on stage 2 of the An Post Ras after 159km of racing which also propelled the Kiwi into the race lead. The 23-year-old now leads the overall classification by 1:55 minutes over Clemens Fankhauser (Tirol Cycling Team) ahead of the third stage.

"It's a great result for me," Bevin said. "I'm really delighted to get the stage win.

"There was a bit of a lull in the race so I attacked and I just felt like I had the legs to keep going over the climbs. Thankfully I did and it worked out for me in the end."

Leading the chasers behind Bevin over the line 1:55 minute later was Alessandro Pettiti (Italy Team Idea), Fankhauser Clemens (Austria Tirol Cycling Team), Marcus Eibegger (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku) and David Chopin (France Bretagne Velotec.

The relatively flat stage included a category one climb at Doonagore with 8km to go would would decide the day’s victor. The day started with numerous breakaways threatening and with 100km raced, a group of 28 riders went clear, including last year's winner Marcin Bialoblocki (Britain Velosure Giordana).

The break quickly established a lead of just over one minute before the whole race came back together again entering Ballvaughan.

With the catch made, Bevin counter attacked with 40km left to race and was joined by Dominic Jelfs (Britain Madison Genesis).The duo worked to build a 50 second gap with four rider pursuing them — Eibegger, Chopin, Lukas Postlberger (Austria Tirol Cycling Team) and Pettiti.

As the two leaders began the gruelling climb at Doonagore, Bevin dropped Jelfs and soloed away to steadily build his lead to around a minute and a half.

Along with taking the yellow jersey, Bevin now also leads the points and
King of the Mountains classification.

Alex Peters' (Britain Madison Genesis) leads the Under-23 jersey while Sean Lacey (Cork City Aquablue) won the county rider classification.

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