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The rain poured down on very wet roads which did not help the yellow jersey Liam Blanchfield (Bray Whls) who was doing his best to keep the break within reach. However the GC time gaps were small and a lot of riders had a lot to gain if the got up the road and this break had plenty of riders in it within seconds of the overall lead.
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When the break turned right in Tullow it had 55km to go and a tailwind to the finish. The bunch was 1 minute 45 seconds down at this stage. On the next 20km to Baltinglass there was what looked like diesel oil spilled on the road and it was incredible that no one fell off on the slippy roads. No doubt this didn't help the chase behind, but saying that the leading break was working well and everybody was going through in the miserable conditions.
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At 20km to go, the gap to the bunch had opened to 2 minutes and 5 seconds and the breakaway was still working well.
After Poulaphouca Reservoir the attacks started in the break, two riders Matt Flynn (Mountivation UK) and Daire O'Sullivan (Usher IRC) eventually went clear at 10km to go. They were still strong and worked well to open the gap to 100m and then at Blessington they had almost 20 seconds with 5km to go.
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They were never far out front and managed to hold off the the other eighteen riders from the original breakaway.
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At the finish 16 year old Flynn from the Lake District in England took no chances, he dropped the Usher rider and went on to take his second stage victory on his own. O'Sullivan came in close behind and Matt Blayney (North Down CC) led in the rest to take the third slot.
Eugene Murtagh (Lucan CRC) took the bunch gallop ahead of Thomas Lavery (Comeragh CC) 1 minute 41 seconds behind.
After the finish, everybody went back to St. Marks GAA center in Tallaght for the prize presentation. There was plenty of tea and sandwiches for everyone and after a long tense wait for the judges to finalise the results and overall. Lucan's Daniel Kirwan emerged as the overall winner with just one second to spare over Paddy Deegan of the EuroCycles team and only two seconds ahead of junior rider Dylan Foley of the Irish Development Squad. In fourth place Matt Blayney of North Down CC finished only 3 seconds down, it don't come much closer than that.
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Fifteen of the 20 man breakaway filled the top placings on GC, the race leader Liam Blanchfield of Bray Wheelers dropped to sixteenth overall. Also loosing out was stage two time trial winner John Kenny of Navan RC he dropped from 2nd to 17th after the stage. While these two were the biggest losers today, they did make their mark on the race and will rise to shine another day.
Other winners were Matt Flynn of the UK's Mountivation Team after two stage wins he went home with the Green Points jersey, the fist lady was Laura Wasley from the Manx Viking Wheelers, Robert Looby of Newbridge CC took the Betty Darcy trophy for the first A3 rider, Shane Baker of Usher IRC won the Mountains competition and the Usher Irish Road Club took the Team prize.
During the speeches in St. Marks it was mentioned that there was one noticeable absentee from the race this year, this was the main man Sam Darcy. Sam took ill thee weeks before the event and was admitted to Wexford Hospital. Only last Monday he underwent an operation and was recuperating in his hospital bed this week. On Sunday afternoon the family arranged bring Sam out to see the race. At the start of Stage 3, an emotional Sam presented the Yellow jersey to Liam Blanchfield and then lead the race for the stage in the lead car.
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All of the race personal and riders wish Sam a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back out on the cycling circuit in the near future.
Classification Winners: Ladies Winner Laura Wasley (Manx Viking Whls) in Pink, Sprints Winner Matt Flynn (Mountivation UK) in Green, Overall Winner Daniel Kirwan (Lucan CRC) in Yellow, Junior Winner Dylan Foley (Irish Devl Squad) in White and KOH Winner Shane Baker (Usher IRC) in Red
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An Post Gorey 3 Day 2012
Stage 4 - (91km) (Provisional Results)
1 Matt Flynn (Mountivation UK) Time 2hr 14mins 25secs
2 Daire O'Sullivan (Usher IRC) @ 7 secs
3 Matt Blayney (North Down CC) @ 14 secs
4 Robert Looby (Newbridge CC) st
5 Davey Byrne (Usher IRC) st
FINAL PRIZE PRESENTATION
Prizes awarded by Joe Kehoe of An Post
Stage 1 and 4 Winner - Matt Flynn (Mountivation UK)
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Stage 2 TT Winner - John Kenny Navan RC
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Stage 3 Winner - John Priest Lucan CRC
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Ladies Winner - Laura Wasley Manx Viking Wheelers
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Mountains Winner - Shane Baker Usher IRC
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Points Winner - Matt Flynn Mountivation UK
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First Junior - Dylan Foley Irish Devl Squad
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Overall Winner - Daniel Kirwan Lucan CRC
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Robert Looby of Newbridge CC took the Betty Darcy trophy for the first A3 rider
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Team Winners - Usher IRC
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Overall GC
1 Daniel Kirwan (Lucan CRC)
2 Paddy Deegan (EuroCycles) @ 1 sec
3 Dylan Foley (Irish Devl Squad) + 1st Junior @ 2 secs
4 Matt Blayney (North Down CC) @ 3 secs
5 Paul Flynn (Slaney CC) @ 13 secs
6 Martin Cullinane (Comeragh CC) @ 15 secs
1st Lady: Laura Wasley (Manx Viking Whls)
Sprints Competition
1 Flynn,M 12
2 Blaney,M 9
3 Kenny,J 6
Mountains KOH Competition
1 Baker,S 17
2 McGreevy,S 3
3 Armstrong,T 2
A3 Overall
1 Looby,R 7h04'26"
2 Millar,M @ 02"
3 Romanowicz,T @ 04"
Vets Overall
1 O'Toole,R 7h05'45"
2 McCarthy,D @ 09"
3 Priest,J @ 38"
Team General Classification
1 Usher IRC 21h14'39"
2 Irish Devl Squad @ 30"
3 North Down CC @ 43"
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All pictures taken by Peter Purfield