CYCLING/Junior Tour: Ian Stannard, from Milton Keynes in England, who would like to be a professional and lists his hobbies as "dance music", has taken over as race leader of the Martin Donnelly Junior Tour after yesterday's stage which put a stop to the all-conquering Dutch team, who looked to have taken complete control, winning the first two stages.
Still, they have the lead in the points, mountains and team categories, but they only have eyes for the maillot jeunes (yellow Jersey).
The stage was a hectic affair with action from the start, and it was evident that the overnight leader, Argen de Baat, was not savouring the thought of a 55-mile stage with a start and finish in Waterford.
He failed to make an impression on the stage, with the exception of a foray forward, which livened up the bunch on the approach to the climb at the Pike (33 miles) outside Dungarvan.
While he may have missed the boat, at least he had a number of team-mates up front. The bunch failed to react to a group of 12 who had gone ahead just before Shandon (30 miles) and their advantage see-sawed as there were efforts to peg them back.
In the end it came down to a sprint between the break on the outskirts of Waterford with Robert Geskin getting the verdict.
Safely in that group also was Stannard, who had a better accumulative time for the three stages and he goes into the race leader's jersey for today's stage around Carrick-on-Suir.
Stage Three (55 miles): 1 R Geskin (Holland), 2hrs 5mins 5secs; 2 J van Heerdan (South Africa) same time; 3 P Williams (BC North West), st; 4 R Muscat (Belgium), st; 5 D Martin (Britain), st; 6 F Wierstra (Holland), st.
Overall: 1 I Stannard (Britain), 4.25.56; 2 Williams, at 8secs; 3 H Pieter (South Africa), 10secs; 4 T van Amerongen (Holland), 1.9; 5 Martin, 1.12; 6 Geskin, 1.16. Points: Muscat. Mountains: Geskin. Team: Holland.
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