CYCLING NEWS: AN AMERICAN winner, a Manx team, Irish ancestry. The Californian criterium specialist Ken Hanson won yesterday's opening stage of the FBD Insurance Rás, galloping home at the head of a 110-rider main bunch to take the first yellow jersey of the race.
The victory in Ballinamore was sweet for the 26-year-old, given it was his first international individual win and came in the county where one of his grandmothers was born.
"My first time here was last October," he said after the stage finish in Co Leitrim. "I met all my cousins then. I know about the race as some of the teams I race against in the US have competed here in the past.
"I normally ride with the BMC Racing team but asked the promoter if there was a team with an open spot.
"Ten days ago I got contacted by the guy who runs the Isle of Man team who said he had a spot if I was interested."
That team director was surely pinching himself last night, given that Hanson had already made his week a success.
"It all happened so fast," continued the rider. "I'm so happy that I was able to make it and have success on the first stage."
He beat the Dutchman Patrick Kos, the Belgian Benny de Schrooder and the rest of the bunch in the slightly uphill sprint.
Mark Nestor, Scott McDonald and Paídí O'Brien were best of the home riders, finishing sixth, seventh and 11th respectively.
The top Irishman in the general classification is Neill Delahaye, who broke away alone prior to the first hot-spot sprint and combined King of the Mountains prime in Kells, taking the points and bonus seconds available there.
His efforts ensured he holds the first mountains jersey and will start today's stage to Claremorris in equal fourth overall.
"I'm very happy - it's good to get any sort of recognition in this race," the Dubliner said of his claiming the mountains jersey.
"I was aiming for that. I clipped away a couple of kilometres before the hot-spot sprint so I'm happy enough."
The mainly flat stage was marked by a number of breakaways, the most important coming just before Ballyjamesduff, 51 kilometres into the stage, when the Irishman Eugene Moriarty and Tim van der Zanden of the Netherlands attacked.
They were joined over 10 kilometres later by seven others, namely Rob Partridge, Alex Higham, Daniel Lloyd, Morten Hegreberg, and three Irishmen, Derek Burke, Simon Kelly and Sean Lacey.
Van der Zanden, Higham and Lloyd then forged on ahead on the run-in toward the finish but the hard-chasing peloton eventually got back on terms inside the final eight kilometres.
Stage one Navan to Ballinamore
Stage One: 1, Ken Hanson (Isle of Man Microgaming — Dolan) 142 kilometres in 3 hours 6 mins 32 secs; 2, P Kos (Netherlands); 3, B de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly); 4, M Komar (Poland); 5, D Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk); 6, M Nestor (Pezula Racing); 7, S McDonald (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth); 8, R Pioline (France Province Alpes Cote d'Azur); 9. M. Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest); 10, J Marc Maurin (France Province Alpes Cote d'Azur); 11, P. O'Brien (Ireland An PostM. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly); 12, B. Janiackzyk (Poland); 13, J. James (Britain Kinesis); 14, H. Nybo (Norway Sparebanken Vest); 15, E. Moriarty (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC) all same time.
Primes: King of the Hills category 3/Hot spot sprint in Kells (14.2 km):1, Neil Delahaye (Dublin Usher IRC) 5 points/3 seconds; 2, S. Gallagher (Ireland An PostM. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 4 points/2 seconds; 3, M. Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 3 points/1 second; 4, K. Gilham (Britain Kinesis) 2 points.
King of the Hills category 3/Hot spot sprint, Slieve an gCallaigh (29.3 kilometres):1, Jaroslaw Dabrowski (Poland) 5 points/3 seconds; 2, K. Page (Ireland Pezula) 4 points/2 seconds; 3, C. Rake (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 3 points/1 second; 4, K. House (Britain Team Stena Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 2 points.
Hotspot prime, Newtownforbes (104.2 km):1, Rob Partridge (Britain Team StenaRapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 3 seconds; 2, M. Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 2 seconds; 3, D. Lloyd (Ireland An PostM. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 1 second.
County rider: 1, Mark Nestor (Pezula Racing); 2, S. McDonald (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth); 3, E. Moriarty (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC) all same time. International team: 1, France Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur, 9 hours 19 mins 36 secs; 2, Ireland An PostM. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly; 3, Poland National Team, both same time.
County team: 1, Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC, 9 hours 19 mins 36 secs; 2, Tipperary Dan Morrissey; 3, Dublin Eurocycles, both same time.
General classification: 1, Ken Hanson (Isle of Man Microgaming — Dolan) 142 kilometres in 3 hours 6 mins 22 secs; 2, P. Kos (Netherlands) at 4 secs; 3, B. de Schrooder (Ireland An PostM. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) at 6 secs; 4, M. Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) at 7 secs; 5, N. Delahaye (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations); 6, R. Partridge (Britain Stena Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk); 7, J. Dabrowski (Poland National Team) all same time; 8, K. Page (Ireland Pezula Racing) at 8 secs; 9, S. Gallagher (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) same time; 10, D. Lloyd (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) at 9 secs; 11, C. Rake (Norway Sparebanken Vest) same time; 12, M. Komar (Poland National Team) at 10 secs; 13, D. Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk); 14, M. Nestor (Pezula Racing); 15, S. McDonald (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth) all same time. Points: 1, Ken Hanson (Isle of Man Microgaming — Dolan) 15 points; 2, P. Kos (Netherlands) 14; 3, B. de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 13; 4, M. Komar (Poland) 12; 5, D. Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 11; 6, M. Nestor (Pezula Racing) 10.
Mountains: 1, Neill Delahaye (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) 5; 2, J. Dabrowski (Poland) 5; 3, K. Page (Ireland Pezula) 4; 4, S. Gallagher (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 4; 5, M. Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 3. Under-23: 1, Patrick Kos (Netherlands) 3 hours 6 mins 26 secs; 2, C. Rake (Norway Sparebanken Vest) at 5 secs; 3, M. Nestor (Pezula Racing) at 6 secs; 4, J. James (Britain Kinesis); 5, O. Quast (Germany Stevens von Hacht) both same time County rider: 1, Neill Delahaye (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) 3 hours 6 mins 29 secs; 2, M. Nestor (Pezula Racing) at 3 secs; 3, S. McDonald (Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth); 4, E. Moriarty (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC); 5, C. Sweetman (Meath Martin Donnelly) all same time. Cycling Ireland category 2: 1, Shane Hurley (Dublin Dundrum Town Centre) 3 hours 6 mins 32 secs; 2, M. Power (Tipperary Dan Morrissey); 3, G. Hurley (Dublin Dundrum Town Centre); 4, K. Donagher (Dublin McNally Swords); 5, B. Lacey (Kerry Total Cleaning Supplies) all same time. International team: 1, France Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur, 9 hours 19 mins 36 secs; 2, Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly; 3, Poland National Team; 4, Britain Stena Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk; 5, Britain Kinesis, all same time. County team: 1, Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC, 9 hours 19 mins 36 secs; 2, Tipperary Dan Morrissey; 3, Dublin Eurocycles; 4, Dublin Dundrum Town Centre; 5, Meath Cycleways@53degreesnorth, all same time.
•The race continues today with a mainly flat 167-kilometre stage from Ballinamore to Claremorris and more aggressive racing is guaranteed.
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