Irish national road-race champion Melanie Späth outsprinted her Ireland team mate Olivia Dillon to take stage two honours in An Post Rás na mBan as Dillon assumed the overall lead by the narrowest of margins from Späth.
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Späth and Dillon raced clear of Australian domiciled Dubliner Jenny Fay (Bike-Aid.de) on a great day for the Irish in the Clare-based five-day international stage race.
Race leader Hannah Barnes of Britain, riding with the DID Electrical team, lost almost five minutes on the day and slips down the order after 96km of arduous racing on heavy roads made even tougher by driving wind and rain.
From the outset, Team Ireland took the race to their rivals with 2011 world track medallist Caroline Ryan racing clear with Jennifer Letué (Trek Norway) in the first significant break of the day just after the second of five categorised climbs.
They were soon joined by Späth, Dillon and Fay who distanced Ryan and Letué after the Corkscrew climb and raced clear. They built up a lead of over four minutes on the next group containing race leader Hannah Barnes approaching the tough final ten kilometres of draggy roads to the finish in Carron.
When Dillon attacked with seven kilometres remaining, Fay had no answer and Späth soon saw her opportunity to jump across to her team mate.
The two worked in tandem all the way to the finish line where Dillon opened the sprint only for current Irish national road race champion Späth to come around her on the grinding uphill race to the line.
Späth is now level on time with Dillon and takes over the An Post race leader’s jersey heading into tomorrow morning’s 16km Team Time Trial. Dillon now leads overall on the same time as Späth, the two Ireland national team members separated on count back of results from the first two stages.
Christine Majerus (Luxembourg) leads the National Dairy Council Points competition by three points from Späth. Fiona Meade (Munster) retains her lead in the Clare County Council County Rider classification. Jenny Fay (Bik-Aid.de) now leads Hannah Barnes by three points in the IVCA Mountains classification.
Mel Späth will wear the Stena Line Stages jersey in stage three in recognition of her stage win today. Afterwards the stage winner was delighted with her win and the strength that herself and Dillon showed in a long day out front. “We were off the front for 60k and the roads very dead and very slippery. We were working really hard so yeah, you could say it was epic!”
“Coming towards the finish we could see that Jenny Fay was starting to suffer. Olivia attacked then I attacked and she wasn’t able to react” “There’s kind of a large time gap to the bunch which we are very happy with and it’s very good that both Olivia and I were off the front. “We still have two people to play with for the general classification so that’s a really good situation to be in.
Stage 2 Results
Ennis – Carron 12 September 2013
1 Spath,Melanie IRL Irish National Team 2h43’08”
2 Dillon,Olivia IRL Irish National Team 2h43’08”
3 Fay,Jenny GER Bike-Aid.de 2h46’10” @03’02”
4 Majerus,Christine LUX Team Luxembourg 2h46’27” @03’19”
5 Malling Siggaard,Chr DEN Team Rytger 2h46’27” @ s/t
6 Boylan,Lydia IRL Irish National Team 2h46’27” @ s/t
7 Massey,Laura WAL Abergavenny RC 2h46’27” @ s/t
8 Letue,Jenifer NOR Trek Norway 2h46’27” @ s/t
9 Fortin,Veronique IRL DID Ladies Racing Tea 2h46’27” @ s/t
10 Mallins,Elizabeth WAL Abergavenny RC 2h46’27” @ s/t
14 Poole,Karen GBC Geoffrey Butler Cycle 2h47’01” @ s/t
16 Erskine,Julie IRL DID Ladies Racing Tea 2h47’01” @ s/t
18 Grinczer,Natalie WAL Abergavenny RC 2h47’01” @ s/t
27 Taylor,Gillian WAL Abergavenny RC 2h47’54” @04’46”
33 Barnes,Hannah IRL DID Ladies Racing Tea 2h47’59” @ s/t
35 Boddy,Karia TPI Team Pearl Izumi 2h47’59” @ s/t
45 Martin,Claire TPI Team Pearl Izumi 2h55’09” @ s/t
48 McKay,Helen TPI Team Pearl Izumi 2h55’30” @12’22”
57 Lloyd,Manon WAL Abergavenny RC 3h03’44” @20’36”
62 Palmer,Gillian TV Team Verge 3h04’20” @21’12”
64 Soden,Nicola GBC Geoffrey Butler Cycle 3h05’40” @22’32”
72 McDonald,Charlotte ORW Orwell Wheelers 3h08’04” @24’56”
74 McKay,Sandra GBC Geoffrey Butler Cycle 3h08’11” @25’03”
85 Sewell,Iona GBC Geoffrey Butler Cycle 3h12’16” @29’08”
86 Murray,Laura TPI Team Pearl Izumi 3h12’21” @29’13”
90 Forster,Michelle GBC Geoffrey Butler Cycle 3h15’04” @31’56”
95 Sammut,Hannah TV Team Verge 3h27’16” @44’08”
General Classification
1 Dillon,Olivia V Irish National T 4h08’54”
2 Spath,Melanie S Irish National T 4h08’54” = s/t
3 Fay,Jenny S Bike-Aid.de 4h11’56” @03’02”
4 Majerus,Christine S Team Luxembourg 4h12’10” @03’16”
5 Malling Siggaard,Chr S Team Rytger 4h12’10” = s/t
6 Boylan,Lydia S Irish National T 4h12’13” @03’19”
7 Letue,Jenifer S Trek Norway 4h12’13” = s/t
8 Fortin,Veronique S DID Ladies Racin 4h12’13” = s/t
9 Heine,Vita S Trek Norway 4h12’19” @03’25”
10 Massey,Laura S Abergavenny RC 4h12’26” @03’32”
11 Mallins,Elizabeth S Abergavenny RC 4h12’26” = s/t
19 Grinczer,Natalie S Abergavenny RC 4h12’47” = s/t
20 Poole,Karen S Geoffrey Butler 4h12’47” = s/t
23 Erskine,Julie S DID Ladies Racin 4h12’47” = s/t
28 Taylor,Gillian S Abergavenny RC 4h13’40” = s/t
31 Barnes,Hannah S DID Ladies Racin 4h13’42” @04’48”
33 Boddy,Karla S Team Pearl Izumi 4h13’45” = s/t
43 Martin,Claire S Team Pearl Izumi 4h20’55” @12’01”
46 McKay,Helen S Team Pearl Izumi 4h21’29” @12’35”
57 Lloyd,Manon J Abergavenny RC 4h29’30” @20’36”
60 Soden,Nicola S Geoffrey Butler 4h31’26” @22’32”
64 McKay,Sandra V Geoffrey Butler 4h34’10” @25’16”
71 Palmer,Gillian S Team Verge 4h35’29” @26’35”
73 Sewell,Iona S Geoffrey Butler 4h38’02” @29’08”
74 Murray,Laura S Team Pearl Izumi 4h38’07” @29’13”
77 McDonald,Charlotte S Orwell Wheelers 4h39’17” @30’23”
93 Forster,Michelle V Geoffrey Butler 4h59’25” @50’31”
94 4 Sammut,Hannah S Team Verge 5h00’08” @51’14”
Team
1 Irish National Team = 12h30’01
2 Abergavenny RC @ 07’12”
15 Geoffrey Butler Cycl @ 48’09”
Mountains Competition
1 Fay,J GER 25
2 Barnes,H IRL 22
3 Dillon,O IRL 20
Primes
KOM Cat 3: Killnaboy
1 Barnes,H IRL 5pt
2 Lamborelle,N LUX 4pt
3 Spath,M IRL 3pt
4 Fortin,V IRL 2pt
KOM Cat 3: Roughan
1 Barnes,H IRL 5pt
KOM Cat 3: Poul na bron
1 Letue,J NOR 5pt
2 Ryan,C IRL 4pt
3 Fay,J GER 3pt
4 Dillon,O IRL 2pt
KOM Cat 2: Corkscrew
1 Dillon,O IRL 10p
2 Fay,J GER 8pt
3 Spath,M IRL 6pt
4 Letue,J NOR 4pt
5 Majerus,C LUX 3pt
6 Fortin,V IRL 1pt
KOM Cat 2: Carron
1 Spath,M IRL 10p
2 Dillon,O IRL 8pt
3 Fay,J GER 6pt
4 Majerus,C LUX 4pt
5 Malling Sigg DEN 3pt
6 Boylan,L IRL 1pt
Points Competition
1 Majerus,C LUX 18
2 Spath,M IRL 15
3 Barnes,H IRL 15
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