Cycling:Britain's Russell Downing celebrated his 21st birthday in some style on the streets of Cork today as he was crowned winner of the Tour of Ireland after finishing the third and final stage in second position behind Norwegian Lars Petter Nordhaug.
The duo had broken clear from a charging chase group and Downing's second place also secured him both the green jersey for points to go with the yellow as race winner. He also won stage one into Waterford on Friday.
Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish were among a large group that didn’t finish the 169km stage from Bantry, which concluded in terrible weather conditions.
Ireland’s Philip Deignan came home in 16th position, 41 seconds behind Nordhaug, who clocked a time of 4:00.10 to take second on general classification. Deignan finished 12th overall, while his Cervelo Test Team came in third overall behind BMC and winners Team Saxo Bank.