This mornings stage consisted of 113km rolling out from Killorglin onto the Annadale road for 3 laps around Beaufort and then 10 laps of the historical Killorglin town circuit.
Overnight leader Luke Tuckwell of Trinity racing had 33 seconds over second place Dom Jackson of Foran CT, and 42 seconds off third place Tom Martin of All Human Velo Revolution.
The races roll out time was 10 am and the bunch sat at speeds up and over 50+kmph average, with the 113km being completed in under 2 and a half hours.
Hard probing attacks were seen by Daire Feely from the outset who was 1 minute and 50 seconds off the pace going in to today’s stage, clearly desperate to try and upset Trinity Racing’s game plan. Early breaks went out to 25 and 30 seconds.
Coming in to Beaufort for the first lap, a group of 9riders held a gap of 22 seconds, with Daire Feely seeming to be driving it on desperate to pull back his deficit on the leaders. Weather proved to be on our side for the day as the dry roads allowed for a wicked pace. Front group managed to extend their gap up to 34 seconds.
Entering Killorglin for start of Lap 2, the breakaway shortened to 23 seconds until they were eventually hauled in. With the peloton back together, attacks were endless until a huge split arose in the peloton stretching to 43 seconds before entering Beaufort for the last time.
Yellow Jersey was in the chase desperate not to lose any time working well with his team mates of Trinity Racing. Conor and Seth worked their way to a 17 second gap with a chase consisting of Lindsay Watson, Aaron Rafferty, Adam Lewis and Mitchell McLaughlin trying to close the gap which resulted in a 6 man lead with a gap of 37 seconds on the peloton.
Mitchell McLoughlin of all human Velo Revolution, Seth Dunwoody, Cycling Ireland, Adam Lewis of Team Skyline, Lindsay Watson of Cycling Ulster and Conor McKennon of Isle of Man, had a 55 second gap heading in to the 10 laps of Killorglin. Tensions were high and crashes occurred with riders coming down on the road coming in to Killorglin.
The five riders managed to hold on to their lead for four laps until Dunwoody launched an attack joined by Adam Lewis, which was bridged across by Thomas Springbett, Paul Kennedy Odhran Doogan and Mitchell Mcloughlin.
Entering the last lap, Trinity were closing down every break with the remainder of the peloton all together with 3km to go. Joe Pidcock of Trinity Racing, managed to outsprint Odhran Doogan of Caldwell wheelers and Patrick O Loughlin of Greenmount Cycling Academy, to take the win with Luke Tuckwell, His team mate, neatly packed in the group behind to take his win on GC and retain his yellow jersey.
Photos courtesy of Caroline Kerley
Results
Stage 4 Killorglin - Killorglin (01/04/2024)
1. Joe PIDCOCK* 13 Trinity Racing 1. A1 -5 2h27'53''
2. Odhran DOOGAN* 37 Team Caldwell Cycles 2. A1 -3
3. Patrick O'LOUGHLIN* 114 Greenmount Cycling Academy 3. A1 -1
4. Jamie MEEHAN* 49 Cycling Ulster 4. A1
5. Will PERRETT 34 Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling 5. A1
6. Adam LEWIS 54 Team Skyline-Cadence 6. A1
7. Charlie GENNER* 23 Halesowen Academy - Mapei 7. A1
8. Ugo FABRIES* 12 Trinity Racing 8. A1
9. Seth DUNWOODY* 201 Cycling Ireland
10. Tom MARTIN 19 All Human - Velo Revolution 9. A1 +8''
General Classification - After Stage 4
1. Luke TUCKWELL* 15 Trinity Racing 1. A1 9h48'52''
2. Dominic JACKSON 42 Foran CT 2. A1 +33''
3. Tom MARTIN 19 All Human - Velo Revolution 3. A1 +42''
4. Dean HARVEY* 11 Trinity Racing 4. A1 +1'04''
5. +1 Jamie MEEHAN* 49 Cycling Ulster 5. A1 +1'17''
6. -1 Daire FEELEY 16 All Human - Velo Revolution 6. A1 +1'28''
7. Conn McDUNPHY 51 Team Skyline-Cadence 7. A1 +1'34''
8. +2 Will PERRETT 34 Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling 8. A1 +2'05''
9. -1 Liam CROWLEY* 56 UCD Cycling Team 9. A1 +2'13''
10. +1 Seth DUNWOODY* 201 Cycling Ireland +2'24''
For Full Results click here