Today the fourth and final stage of 2009 Omagh Sports Forum Tour of Ulster saw the remaining 87 riders , the elite of Irish cycling , face the very harshest of conditions that Irish bike racing has to offer .
The flurry of attacks began as soon as the flag dropped and by the ten mile mark a significant breakaway group was begining to forge ahead . Ray , always vigilant , saw the potential and made sure he was in there as did Brian ‘Big Ben’ Kenneally , Stephen ’Sully’ O’Sullivan and Ciaran Cassidy in the new colours of Engraveit.ie . Also there were two of ‘The Dans’ (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers), Joe Fenlon and Mark Power . They were joined by strongmen Barry Monaghan , Conor Murphy , Simon Williams and eighteen year old prodigy Sean Downey .
A second group formed shortly afterwards to set off in pursuit , but there was too much horsepower upfront for the leaders to be seen again before the finish . Overnight leader Martin Irvine missed both breakaway groups and found himself trying to drag the main bunch back into contention , a tough task on a sunny day which was made all the more difficult by the driving rain and howling wind which the riders had to battle against .
As the break approached the finish in Omagh with just 3 kilometres to go Ray launched a blistering attack which only Conor Murphy had the legs to respond to . Murphy countered and Ray had to dig deep into reserves that have been built up over 20 years of hard racing to fight back and stay in contention. Having gone very close in both Ras Mumhan at Easter and in Clonmel the previous Sunday , Ray was determined to make it to the top step of the podium today .
It was now down to a two man sprint for the line and even though Ulsterman Murphy was intent on being first man home it was former Tour of Ulster overall winner Ray who wanted , needed , to win most and he used every ounce of energy left to take yet another very prestigious victory .
Young Downey managed by virtue of his place in the breakaway , and a strong performance all weekend took the overall victory whilst Kenneally was crowned King of the Hills and Dan Morrissey took the team title .
Also flying the worldwidecycles flag in style in The Corkman 3 day was Andrew Aherne who finished 3rd on todays final stage after a very consistent weekend where he also finished 8th overall . The race was dominated by the Dan Morrissey team with Martin O’Loughlin taking the overall ahead of team-mates Kevin Shelly , Cathal McCarthy and Rory Wyley .
Barry
Congratulations Ray, you did say that you were going to win a stage in Ulster. Well done.
Regards,
Ben
Well done ray, good to see you back up there where you belong
Well done Ray, great year for you on many fronts.
Ahh !!! The auld man still has the “Golden Touch”