Cohnen takes stage after tight contest

Cycling/Rás: After five riders took almost two minutes out of the rest of the field on Sunday's opening stage of the FBD Milk Rás, it was expected that yesterday's second leg of the race would be a more tightly controlled affair.

The overall contenders who slipped up two days ago were still smarting from their loss. The same mistake couldn't, and wouldn't, be made again.

So it turned out. From the drop of the flag to the final moments of yesterday's flat, sun-toasted stage from Trim to Oranmore, there was a constant staccato of attacks.

Yet in the end, after all the jumps and breaks and despite all the effort and aggression, only one rider succeeded in gaining time over the other favourites. Eight seconds was what the young Dutch professional Stefan Cohnen had at the finish. Then again, he was perfectly happy with that slight gain; it was seven seconds more than he required to realise his goal of a stage win.

In total, 35 riders finished within seconds of Cohnen, including the Slovenian race leader Valter Bonca. Second place went to the Ireland - Thornton's Recycling rider David McCann, who uncorked an uncharacteristically fast finish to lead home Malcolm Elliott (Yorkshire - Murphy and Gunn) and the rest of the group. Paul Griffin (fifth), Dermot Nally (seventh), Paídi O'Brien (eighth) and Sean Lacey (10Th) were the other Irish riders in the top 10 and David O'Loughlin retained his fourth place overall.

The unluckiest rider of the day was surely the double Rás winner Philip Cassidy. The Meath Lee Strand rider got the hostilities underway right after the start with a characteristic early attack. However the 42-year-old punctured after about one mile, was passed by the bunch and then hit a car in the cavalcade while chasing back on. He remounted and regained the field but, despite a plucky attack later in the day, lost out on his chance of taking the stage.

A constant stream of short-lived attacks followed Cassidy's misfortune, including various efforts by Ireland - Thornton's Recycling riders McCann, O'Loughlin, Tommy Evans, Denis Lynch and Eugene Moriarty. Yet while a more successful move did finally go clear just after Ballinasloe, the presence of so many of the race favourites cancelled out any gains. The only one who earned any freedom was Cohnen, kicking for home with 12 kilometres to go and so taking the stage.

"It was quite a tough day with all those attacks," 'he said.

"I had good legs though and when I saw my chance towards the end, I went for it."

The FBD Milk Rás continues today with a rolling 152 kilometre stage from Oranmore to Charleville. Bonca continues to hold a six second lead, while Griffin is wearing the green jersey for best sprinter.

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