First year professional Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) became the first race leader of the Tour of Ireland in Cork August 22, after surging clear of a 10-man breakaway on the final finishing circuit. The 23-year-old Belgian took victory by 14 seconds from T-Mobile's Aaron Olsen, with Wesley Sulzberger of the Australian AIS team leading home the rest of the break for third.
Glorious sunshine greeted the peloton as it left Kilkenny Castle for the first 174km stage to Cork. After a calm start to proceedings, a ten-man group went clear after 50km. There were no Irish riders in the break, which contained Sulzberger, Olsen, Craig Lewis (Team Slipstream), Gabriel Rasch (Maxbo-Bianchi), Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC), Roger Beuchat (LPR), Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators) Glenn Bak (Murphy & Gunn / Newlyn / M. Donnelly) and the Unibet duo of Vandenbergh and Pieter Jacobs.
Hopes of a home victory in the race were dealt a further blow after 78km, when Irish national team leader Nicolas Roche abandoned the race with a saddle sore. The Credit Agricole pro, who had been in great form prior to the event, had made the race one of his goals for the season and was bitterly disappointed. "I have been off the bike for four days before the race and instead of thinking about how I can win today, I'm just worried about finishing," he said at the start.
Murphy & Gunn's Danish rider Glen Bak took on the role of adopted Irishman as he infiltrated the break for Sean Kelly's team and crested the summit of The Vee first. Indeed the Dane looked set to take the King of the Mountains jersey, scoring points on the first ascent of St. Patrick's Hill before a bout of cramp put paid to his efforts on the final climb. With most teams represented in the lead group, the main field crossed the line over 13 minutes down on Vandenbergh at the finish.
"This win means a lot to me, because it's my first victory as a professional, and also because we've had a lot of problems at Unibet this year," Vandenbergh said at the finish. "It's so stupid. We should be allowed to ride the races we want to ride. Now Unibet are stopping sponsorship and I will need a new team."
With two riders in the top 10, Unibet now look in control of the five day race and plan to defend the jersey.
"All of the big teams were represented in the break, so the peloton just let us go," Vandenbergh said. "The first time up the hill, I had problems with my chain. It locked and I nearly stopped. I was surprised that the hill was so steep. On the second time up, it wouldn't go into the 25, so I rode up in a 23.
"I had good legs and I just attacked after the final hill," he added. "We had two guys in the break and Jacobs did a good job for me. I think we will try to defend the jersey now. We have a strong team with Jeremy Hunt and Baden Cooke and we have two guys up on the general classification."
Results, Tour of Ireland stage one - Kilkenny to Cork (174km)
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