Matti Breschel (Team CSC) blasted his way down the final 200m in Killarney to win the second stage of the Tour of Ireland.
The Danish professional took the sprint in the tough 166km stage from Clonakilty that saw the riders take on the climbs of the Healy Pass and Molls gap. Breschel had to beat Norwegian youngster Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo-Bianchi) to take his second professional victory this year in the Kerry town voted Ireland's 'Best Kept' in 2007.
The sun shone for the second consecutive day as the peloton left the town of Clonakilty where the start drew large crowds in the narrow streets with shops specially decorated to celebrate the event.
A large group had gone clear before the Healy Pass and Kristian House (Navigators Insurance) joined up with Gordon McCauley (Plowman Craven / Evans Cycles) to launch an assault on the climb with no time to watch the spectacular views enjoyed by tourists. House took the prime at the summit and had distanced McCauley in the process but the duo were brought back by the chase led by CSC.
Irish fans had something to cheer about when Brian Keneally launched himself in pursuit of lone leader Sergy Lagutin (Navigators) at the top of Molls Gap. The unfortunate Waterfordman found that Lagutin had sat up after he won the king of the mountains prime but continued alone on the descent in pursuit of a home win. The CSC team saw the danger and worked hard to bring the Irishman back and he was caught with 10km to go. Keneally finished twenty seconds behind the winner after his brave effort had taken its toll.
Breschel also took the An Post green jersey as points leader in the race with three stages to go. Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) won the intermediate sprints at Kenmare and Glengarrif to take valuable time bonuses and moved into second place behind the yellow jersey of race leader Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) who finished in the front group to retain his lead with a margin reduced to 20 seconds.
Tomorrow's 194km third stage could be one for the sprinters as the race leaves Tralee heading for Ennis via the city of Limerick.
Results
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