Brammeier takes stage as Duignan holds the yellow

Liverpool Century rider Tim Brammeier proved best at the end of stage three of the Junior Tour yesterday evening.

The English rider fought back after being distanced on one of the final climbs of the 47-mile race to Ballyboughal to retake his place in a break of nine riders.

The group had gone clear halfway through the penultimate lap, after a succession of failed breakaway attempts.

Present were British rider Steve Harrison, Martin Quill of Team Keyne, Michel Diessen (Tempo Veldhoven) and team mate Bart Kerkdijk, VC La Pomme duo Julian Antomaccii and Jean Combes plus Liverpool Century trio, Chris Penketh and Tim and Matt Brammeier.

This group worked well together to establish a lead of over one minute but a concerted effort by yellow jersey Philip Duignan and the rest of the Irish team succeeded in swinging the pendulum back in their favour.

As the breakaway riders began to lose impetus up front, the bunch closed in behind, but not enough to prevent Brammeier taking the sprint.

But the effort was sufficient to ensure that Duignan holds on to yellow for another day.

He continues to lead Joost van Leijen of the Tempo Veldhoven team by 12 seconds with a VC La Pomme rider Philippe Tesson third at 20 seconds.

Van Leijen leads the mountains competition with Tesson heading the points ranking.

The races continues today with a 54-mile stage, which start in Clonee.