Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia) took his third stage victory in as many days when the Tour of Ireland reached Galway on Friday 29th August. The Manxman exploded down Seapoint Promenade in Salthill ahead of Bernardo Riccio (Tinkoff Credit Systems) and Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30) after nearly five hours in the saddle.

Cavendish remounted after crashing late in the stage with his team dropping back to bring him back to the front of the peloton and the 23-year-old sprinter lived up to his reputation of being the fastest finisher on the planet.

Kieran Page (Pezula Racing) and Kurt Hovelijnck (Topsport Vlaanderen) went clear at the 25km mark after a flurry of early attacks had failed. The leading duo built up a lead of nearly four minutes as they travelled through Westport and around the bottom of the holy mountain Croagh Patrick and arrived at Louisburgh. Page won the An Post intermediate sprint in Louisburgh but he was on his own when he reached the summit of the climb at Leenáun. There we reports that Hovelijnck had become ill and sat up to wait for the bunch to catch him.

Page was still five minutes clear when the race reached Connemara. Meanwhile Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) was mopping up more points to extend his lead in the Irish Ferries sponsored King of the Mountains competition on the ascent at Maumturk.

Page was gradually reeled in as the tough terrain took its toll on the rider from the Isle of Wight. Daniel Lloyd (An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) and Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) were the next to take a chance and the duo swiftly built a lead which grew to 3 minutes at the 160km mark. The leaders were still clear on the final climb of the day at Keeagh with Wilson leading the chasing peloton over the summit. Team Columbia hit the front and the gap to the break started to disappear rapidly. The bunch split into two groups under the pressure but came back together and the leaders were brought to heel with 10km to go.

Cavendish received congratulatory hugs from all the team after he crossed the finish line and he goes into stage four from Limerick to Dingle tomorrow where a twenty second lead could evaporate on the tough climbs of the Conor Pass and Mount Eagle.

Tour of Ireland 27th to 31st August in association with Fáilte Ireland

Stage 1: Dublin to Waterford, 192km – Wednesday 27th August
Stage 2: Thurles to Loughrea, 158km -Thursday 28th August
Stage 3: Ballinrobe to Galway, 201km – Friday 29th August
Stage 4: Limerick to Dingle, 186km – Saturday 30th August
Stage 5: Killarney to Cork, 155km – Sunday 31st August

File Photo by: CorVos Pro