Five gain crucial early advantage

CYCLING: When the FBD Milk Rás graduated to the international calendar in 2001, it became a more controlled affair. The professional teams in the race suppressed the constant attacking which had been a long-established feature of the race; the net effect was a race where gains were in seconds, rather than minutes.

The professionals are still here but yesterday's opening leg harked back to the old days. At the end of a fairly short 132 kilometre stage to Trim, the main bunch found itself almost two minutes in arrears. Much can happen yet, but stage winner Valter Bonca, plus breakaway companions Petter Renang, Mark Lovatt, Anthony Malarczyk and Irish favourite David O'Loughlin did their overall prospects no harm whatsoever with that impressive ride. And now the other favourites have quite a bit to do.

The day was marked by two major breaks plus, for those back in the main bunch, a constant, energy-sapping stream of attack and counter attack. Eight riders went clear inside the first 10 miles of the stage and set about building a very solid lead.

The octet - including Denis Lynch and Philip Cassidy - stayed clear for over half the stage, opening up a lead of two minutes before the bunch started to respond. And while the effort of those behind eventually snuffed out the audacious move, the riders up front had enough time to gather King of the Mountains points and, more importantly, bonus seconds which could have proved vital in determining the day's yellow jersey.

But it wasn't to be. After about 50 miles of racing O'Loughin (Ireland - Thorton's Recycling), Malarczyk (Wales Stena Line), Renang (Scandinavia Bianchi Nordic), Bonca (Slovenia Perutnina Ptuj) and Lovatt (Yorkshire Murphy and Gunn) raced clear. Five strong riders combining in a fully committed fashion proved decisive; after three miles they had a lead of 34 seconds and by the time they reached the 12 mile to go point, they had over two and a half minutes.

It was clear that one of the five would take the stage and the first yellow jersey of the race. It just remained to see who that would be.

The answer was Bonca. Renang made his move with two miles to go and got a gap, but the experienced Slovene calmly closed up to him, gathered his energy and then surged to a two-second win. For him the stage and the first yellow jersey.

"I'm pretty happy with how things went," said O'Loughlin. "To take the lead this soon would be too early. My goal is to stay in contention and then take it from there."