It had to be one of the most appealing and satisfactory stage in a long time. Achill Island, Ireland’s largest island, its beauty is apparent with the wild mountains, open moor land and dramatic cliff scenery. The scenery is breathtaking. Steeped in history, archaeological remains testify to human settlement as far back as 4,000 BC. One of the great interests of the island is the Deserted Village on the slopes of Slievemore Mountain. With over 70 abandoned homesteads, it’s a haunting demander of old times.

The third stage of the M Donnelly Junior Tour turned out to be one of the keenest fought stages in the history of an event that goes back to the late 70’s.

The Mayor of Castlebar, Councillor Brendan Heneghan took time out from his business to drop the flag for the ceremonial start of the third stage of the JT.

He offered comforting words to the participants that were going to tackle a tough 72 miles of racing which included a passage through and around Achill Island which also included three climbs. Liitle did he know with his words of wisdom, that this was going to be one of the most keenly fought stages in many a long year. It showed these young cyclists as great ambassadors of our sport and with juniors of this ilk the future of the sport is in good hands.
Shortly after the official start at Letter Junction, the action came thick and fast with Zak Basson (South Africa), Kevin Barclay (Scotland) and Cycling Ulster’s Martin Thomas moving ahead of the bunch at a steady tempo of 40kph. Eventually on the outskirts of Newport their brief foray at the head of the race came unstuck.

Now, it was the turn of Rudd Van (Sinnigeboun Wilterteam) Michael Kersten (Tempo BMV Veldhoven), Stephen Jefferson (Manchester Track), Stephen Halpin (Stenaline-Ireland), Brandon Wilson South Africa), Chris Montleeone (Hot Tubes USA), to shake up the proceedings as they moved steadily away after the bunch had negotiated the town. This group at least had a longer escape, but at Muilrany it too suffered the same fate as the original break of three.

Unbeknownst to the bunch on the drag up to Mulrany, the race leader Adam Bonser drifted towards the back of the bunch as he punctured his front wheel and rather than alert his closest challengers on General Classification to his problem, he meticulously planned that his exercise would not alert anybody. His team mates came to the back of the bunch and afforded him a safe passage back to the heart of the race.

As the stage crossed the bridge onto the island of Achill, the bunch like on the first occasion of an escape decided their time was up. Thomas Martin whilst he may have suffered his temporary freedom in the first break decided that it was worth another gamble to move ahead and was joined by Patrick Ruckert of Team Tempo BMV Veldhoven. The duo certainly had set in motion the move of the stage and a couple of kilometres later, Matthew Greaves Dave Rayner Team, Jake Griffin Sinnigeboun Wilterteam and Siphine Soweia of South Africa made up the quartet that would ruffle the feathers of the bunch.

Extraordinary time checks started to evolve as the leaders raced over some of the most scenic countryside. First it was just an advantage of one minute and as the kms. started to countdown and the climbs had to be scaled the advantage grew to an amazing lead approaching five minutes.

Suddenly as the third KOH was coming up the race leader Bonsar took up the challenge and their was an urgency about him as he literally split the bunch into ones' and twos' approaching the summit. Down the other side, Bonsar along with 10 others were in full flight of the leaders who were slowly losing their momentum. Bonsar’s effort played right into the hands of team mate Tom Diggle who on Tuesday demonstrated his ability to lead from the front and made the junction to Sanden and Ruckert who had the reserves to detach themselves from their breakaway companions after the three climbs. Little did they perceive that Diggle would make the junction to them?

The trio held their advantage of just 40seconds, but by the finishing line thanks to the Herculean effort of Bonsar in particular the advantage on the line was only 19 seconds.
Tom Diggle against two Dutch boys looked out of his depth and the odds were certainly in favour of our continental friends picking some euros for the first prize and if fortune was on their side maybe they could make it a one two outside Nevins Bar at the finish were they could toast their management team in soft drinks.

But the bold Diggle had another agenda as he swept to victory, this making up for his efforts which yielded nothing on Tuesday after his heroics when he was out front in excess of 20kms.

Achill Island, Ireland’s largest island, its beauty is apparent with the wild mountains, open moor land and dramatic cliff scenery. The scenery is breathtaking. Steeped in history, archaeological remains testify to human settlement as far back as 4,000 BC. One of the great interests of the island is the Deserted Village on the slopes of Slievemore Mountain. With over 70 abandoned homesteads, it’s a haunting demander of old times.


Stage results and overall of the M Donnelly junior Tour

M Donnelly Junior Tour
Stage three, Castlebar/Achill Sound/Mulrany-72 miles.

Details:

1 Tom Diggle (North West), 3rs.6mins.44secs;
2 G. van der Sanden (Team BMV Veldhoven), same time;
3 P. Ruckert (Team BMV Veldhoven), st;
4 S. Holt (West Midlands), @19secs;
5 J. McEvoy (North West), st;
6 B. King (Hot Tubes USA), st.

Overall after three stages

1 A. Bonser (North West), 5.44.42;
2 L. Rowe (Dave Rayner Team), @36secs;
3 King, @37;
4 Holt, same time;
5 Sanden, @42;
6 McEvoy, @58.

Mountains-J. Griffin (Sinnigboun Wilterteam, Holland).
Points-Holt.
Team-North West.
First Year Junior-Rowe.

M DONNELLY JUNIOR TOUR: Stage 3 Results Jul 13, 2006  Download the full results in PDF format... [ Download/View File ]
 

M DONNELLY JUNIOR TOUR: Stage 3 Pictures By Peter Purfield Jul 13, 2006,

Some pictures from Stage 3 of the Junior Tour on the spectacular Achill Island in the west of Ireland taken by Peter Purfield.