STAGE 1: DUBLIN TO LONGFORD 143kms
BY: GERARD CROMWELL
In 1916 the General Post Office in O’Connell
Street, Dublin was the scene of some of the fiercest shootouts of the Easter
Rising. Irish revolutionary Padraig Pearse and his men used the building as a
fortress against the gunfire of the British authorities.
 On
May 20th, 2000, the cream of Irelands cycling hotshots lined up outside the
G.P.O to do battle against many overseas visitors, including the old enemy, all
gunning for one target, the yellow jersey of winner of the FBD Milk Ras 2000.
With nine days of eyeballs-out racing, through
Irish villages and towns, over back breaking climbs and down neck breaking
descents, in all kinds of weather, ahead of them, the 172 starters gathered
outside the West County Hotel in Chapelizod for the sign-on for day one. As new
county jerseys were unveiled and paraded in front of the photographers,
wide-eyed Ras rookies could be seen staring slack-jawed at the foreign team
cars, all bedecked in team colours and sponsors names. The German Telekom team
drew envious glances as they huddled around their professional looking car,
wearing the famous strip of the Jan Ullrich led pro squad, and sitting atop
their matching pink and white Pinarello bikes.
As the riders rolled out of the hotel car park to
the ceremonial start in O’Connell Street, the drab grey skyline began to show
glimpses of sunshine up ahead.
 The
ceremony was given a bit of a romantic tinge when Dublin Ravens manager, Simon
Marshall proposed on the podium to his girlfriend, who was also working on the
race in one of the following ambulances. After the lady replied in the positive,
the riders left O’Connell Street for the start proper, just outside Finglas.
Here the race was de-neutralised with the
traditional 3-2-1 count-down and the flag was pulled in through the window of
the Race Directors car to signal the start of racing. Andrew Duffin instantly
became the first victim of this year’s Ras as his wheel collapsed just as the
racing started and to guffaws of “ I hate that” all around him, reached for
the sky and neutral service. The speed of the opening miles and the addition of
two crashes, one after another, holding up the race cavalcade meant that Duffin
was never to regain the main field. Such a fate would have made any grown man
cry, but Duffin was philosophical later “ That has to be some kind of a
record! My back wheel just collapsed, “ he said, “What can you do? The roads
were good. It’s just one of those things, it’s the Ras.”
Inside the first mile, Carlow’s Willie Byrne
became the first race leader on the road as he attacked outside Finglas, and
Tipperary’s Eddie O’Donaghue became one of the races first crash victims.
“ I was riding in the right hand gutter, “ he said afterwards “ sheltering
from the crosswind, when a Belgian tried to get in on Eugene Moriarty’s wheel
in front of me. I wouldn’t let him in, so he just grabbed my handlebars and
threw me to the ground!”
O’Donoghue brought down three or four others and
was nursing an open wound on his left hip as he got back on. “We’ve eight
days left ” he said of the Belgian, “ Don’t worry I’ll get him yet! ”
he winked.
 After
a few brief skirmishes in the strong crosswind, the bunch were all together as
they approached Slane and the first hot spot of the day. This sprint was to
count for time bonus seconds of 5-4-3-2-1 and King of the Mountains points of
the same value. Dublin Skips J.P Hillard used the strength of the other teams
and pounced late to win the sprint from Shane Connaughton (Garda), and Aiden
Crowley (Kildare Cahill Cycles) to become the first wearer of the mountains
jersey in 2000.
Speaking after the stage a delighted Hillard said
that he had aimed to win the sprint at Slane a long time before the Ras started.
“I knew it would be a great chance to wear a
mountains jersey in the Ras,” he said “ I’m more of a sprinter than a
climber, so the short steep hill suited me. I’m delighted.”
As the field turned into a strong headwind after
Slane, James Hodnett (Meath East), Denis O’Shea (Kerry), Dave Peelo (Dublin
Usher), Paul Pickup (Surrey), Brendan Docherty (Antrim) and Swede Mattius
Carlsson attacked at 27 miles - which had been covered in the first hour of
racing - but were reeled in by Navan, where Samuel Farhun of the German Telekom
team took the prime on offer and last years winner Phillip Cassidy (Ireland)
launched a counter-attack with Magnus Albertsson of Sweden. These two held a
slim lead for a few miles until a blustery headwind forced them back into the
confines of the main field.
On the bog road to Athboy, eight riders launched
what was to be the decisive move of the day, if not the whole race. Fergus
McAuley (Ireland), Ronny Jahn (Germany), Tobias Nillson (Sweden), Ken Russell
and Gethin Butler (both Surrey), Denis Easton (Antrim), Paddy Moriarty (Dublin)
and Tipperary’s Eddie Keogh quickly built up a lead of twenty five seconds on
a chase group including Aiden Duff (Carlow Dan Morrissey), Paul Sheppard and
Julian Winn (both Wales), Eugene Moriarty (Ireland), Dave O’Loughlin (Mayo NCF),
Stephen O’Sullivan (Derry Clarke Contracts), Mark Lovett (U.K Pro Vision),
Kristoffer Ingleby (Sweden) and Tjarco Cuppens (Belgium), with the bunch a
further twenty seconds behind.
 Outside
Athboy, at 43 miles gone these two front groups merged and had an advantage of
45 seconds over the bunch.
At the second hot spot sprint at Delvin, which was
won by Butler from Winn, Eugene Moriarty, Jahn and O’Loughlin, the gap had
grown to 2’18” to a lethargic looking bunch as veteran Tosh Lavery (Garda)
punctured out of the main field.
This was to be Lavery’s first of three punctures
for the stage and if there was to be an unsung hero of the stage it would have
to be a toss-up between the 45 year old and Duffin as he battled to regain the
field three times only to get dropped in the crosswind on the run-in to Longford.
By Cloghan, at 57 miles the gap had increased again
to 3’20” and Swede Magnus Albertsson confirmed the bunches lack of urgency
when he stopped for a call of nature and rejoined the field without too much
trouble.
At the final hot spot sprint, won by Winn from
Cuppens, Nilsson, and Eugene Moriarty again, the gap was an unassailable five
minutes and the news on the blackboard shocked the bunch into a belated chase,
lining them out along the right hand side of the road in the strong crosswind.
The last minute panic brought the gap down to 4’14” on the line, but the
damage was done and it seemed that the Ras was already over for anyone not in
this group.
Tjarco Cuppens (DCM Belgium) took a deserved stage
win after attacking alone in the last few kilometres. He held on to win from
Welshman Julian Winn, with Nilsson third, Eugene Moriarty fourth and Denis
Easton pipping Aiden Duff for fifth.
Afterwards a delighted Winn was happy to become the
first yellow jersey of the Millennium Ras, “Yeah it’s been a good start for
me and the boys, but there’s still a long way to go and a totally different
group could get ten minutes tomorrow, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Winn didn’t seem too surprised at the gap they had opened on the main field.
“There was a pretty good combination in the break.” he said, “ There were
two Irish, two Swedes, two Welsh, and plenty of other teams represented, so the
chase behind never really materialised.”
 Stage
winner Tjarco Cuppens was happy with his performance and that of his Belgian
team’s. “When the break went, they (DCM) chased down all the other attacks
and we got a good gap very quickly.” he said. Cuppens thought the Ras was over
for anyone not in the all important first breakaway, “Yeah I think the winner
will come from this group, but the first category climbs are not really good for
me, I can just hang on maybe, but not always in the first group!”
Ireland’s Eugene Moriarty was “Obviously
delighted at being third overall in the Ras after day one,” but admitted there
was a long way to go yet. When asked if the eventual winner would come out of
that leading group, he replied, “Historically that’s what always happens,
but with a field this size and being this early in the race, the Ras is so
unpredictable that anything can happen!” Moriarty had earmarked Mark Lovett
and Julian Winn as potential dangermen after the stage and would be trying to
keep a close eye on them for the rest of the week.
The Ireland team were wearing radio earpieces and
microphones a-la the professional squads and could talk to each rider and their
manager whenever necessary throughout the stage. “They’re actually working
out very well,” said Moriarty, “We had our reservations about them before
the start, but they’re actually very good.” When asked if there was much
banter between the riders, he replied “ There wasn’t much time for banter
today, but we do have a bit of a fun with them.”
Stage One Results: 1 Tjarco Cuppens Belgium DCM -
143 kms in 3hrs 32’28”, 2. Julian Winn (Wales) @ 03”, 3. Tobias Nillson
(Sweden) st, 4. Eugene Moriarty(Ireland) st, 5. Denis Easton(Antrim Planet X) st,
6. Aiden Duff(Dan Morrissey Carlow) st, 7. David O’Loughlin(mayoNCF) st.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION: Winn (Wales) 3’32’18”,
Cuppens (Bel) @ 01” Moriarty (Ire) @ 06” Tobias Nillson (Swe) @ 07”,
Points Classification Pts., Cuppens (Belgium) Winn (Wales) Nillson (Sweden),
Mountains Competiton Pts. 1. J.P Hillard (Dublin Skip) 5, 2. S.Connaughton (Garda)
4, 3. A. Crowley (Kildare) 3
Anyone wishing to sponsor
these pages can contact Gerard Cromwell at 086 8471115 or e-mail Gerard@irishcycling.com
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