O'Loughlin wins from breakaway

Driven onwards by the cheers of his local crowds and drawing on the knowledge of the roads he knows so well, Mayo rider David O'Loughlin won the third stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Oughterard. The finishing town is just 15 kilometres as the crow flies from his home in Cong, and that gave him a considerable motivation to pull off what was an extremely determined, stubborn display.

The stage was defined by the aggression shown by O'Loughlin and last year's race winner, Simon Richardson (Britain Sigmasport Specialized), both of whom who attacked almost immediately after the drop of the flag, were involved in all of the major moves and who sprinted it out together for the stage win 177 kilometres later.

O'Loughlin proved quickest in the finishing gallop, thundering clear of Richardson, the Swedish rider Fredrik Johansson (Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro) and Richardson's Sigmasport Specialized teammate, the Dutchman Wouter Sybrandy. It was his third-ever stage win in the race, and came on a day when he jumped from 20th to ninth overall in the general classification and also took over the pink jersey of best climber.

Stage one winner Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor - Sharp) continues to lead overall, seven second ahead of his nearest rival, but O'Loughlin has moved to one minute 45 seconds of his yellow jersey. The 17 seconds gained was small, but psychologically significant.

"I think the legs are coming around," he said, clearly satisfied with how things turned out. "I haven't had much racing this year so far. Everyone was saying to me this morning 'ah, local roads,' and slagging me [in saying he'd have to attack] but it was more that there was a cross/tailwind out there and we had missed a day of racing yesterday when the stage was stopped. We said that we'd get some racing going and see how things would turn out...they worked out pretty well in the end."

O'Loughlin was in the thick of the action all day, getting into a breakaway group almost immediately after the start in Carrick on Shannon and then forging on ahead with Richardson sixteen kilometres into the stage. Throwing caution to the wind, the duo worked together until they were joined by eighteen others 51 kilometres later.

Those who bridged across were Kit Gilham (Britain Sigmasport Specialised), Sybrandy (Britain Sigmasport Specialised), Neil Delahaye (Ireland Subway National Team), Dominic Jelfs (Ireland Development), David Pell (Australia Drapac Porsche), Mark McNally (Belgium An Post Sean Kelly), Pieter Ghyllebert (Belgium An Post Sean Kelly), Bastian Burgel (Germany Thuringer Energie), ,Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro), Tobyn Horton (Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro), Johansson (Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro), Ben Greenwood (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp), Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp), Andrew Roche (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta), Peter Williams (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta), Sean Lacey (Limerick BDO Get Back), Stephen O'Sullivan (Meath Engraveit.ie/Jade.ie) and Tim Barry (Tipperary Dan Morrissey).

This group eked out a maximum lead of one minute 40 seconds, but the gap began to fall around the halfway point of the stage due to the pressure put on behind by the German Thuringer Energie and Austrian Arbo KTM-Gebruder Weis squads.

It was clear the lead group was too big to be efficient and so after 103 kilometres of racing, Sybrandy attacked and went away with O'Loughlin, Richardson, Johansson and Delahaye.

Passing through his hometown of Cong and then looping out along the extraordinary landscape around Lough na Fooey, O'Loughlin gobbled up top points at the mountain primes of Gowlaun (km 137.2), where Delahaye slipped back, and Tir na Cille (km 150.9). He spurred on his breakaway companions, telling them that the tough, winding roads would enable them to fend off the inevitable chase behind, and that's how things worked out.

In the end, his local knowledge also helped him in the sprint. "I know the bridge [in Oughterard] well, so I came up from the inside with a nice line to split Richardson and Sybrandy up. He [Sybrandy] led the sprint out and I just went for it, leaving it as late as possible and then jumping with about 150 metres to go."

Richardson was a little disappointed with second, but knows that the strong showing indicates he will be competitive as the race goes on. With a deficit of just one minute 46 seconds, he too is in the hunt for the final yellow jersey.

"I think in total I spent one kilometre in the peloton today, so it definitely was a big old stage," he said, showing a bit of pride in their aggressive display. "David was very strong in the sprint. We'd hoped to have gained more time but it was good to get something back."

Craven maintains a slender seven second lead over McNally, with Gilham a further four seconds back in third. Tomorrow's stage covers 169 kilometres from Oughterard to Tipperary.