| On May 20th the UKs top road team Pro Vision -Planet X rode the 8 day Irish Milk Ras ó under-funded , and virtually without backup this is their story as the race unfolded . The RAS is a one off; a race where a rider can lose 10 minutes one day but still win, a constant pendulum of ups and downs of time gains and time losses. The team consisted of only three riders meaning that it would be virtually impossible to control any part of the race, hence the plan was simple; to treat each day as a one day race , and to ride the race in an attacking do or die style. The team motto soon became "Youíve got to be in it to win it". |
| Team lineup JOHN TANNER Current UK road champion ; likely to be heavily marked , probably the classiest rider in the race. WAYNE RANDLE Renowned hardman and famous for his take no prisoners riding style. MARK LOVATT The teams rivet rider. Usually up there from the gun and who believes the only way to race is to attack . |
| STAGE 1 ; DUBLIN – LONGFORD |
| Lovatt gets in the winning break finishing 11th on the stage. Randle and Tanner are heavily marked in the bunch and lose over 4 minutes each as the bunch comes in 4 minutes down on the break. GC ; Lovatt 11th @3s , Randle 26th @ 4.04 , Tanner 114th @ 4.04 Team lies 7th in the team classification at 4.01 |
| STAGE 2 LONGFORD-NEWPORT 101 mile |
| Lovatt is instructed not to take the yellow jersey as it would be undefendable for a 3 man team (all other teams are 5 man ). Lovatt again makes the days break. Randle and Tanner stranded in the bunch over 3 minutes down but they attack the bunch taking 6 riders with them and bridge the gap to the leading break showing the other riders in the race they are riding strongly. The stage is won by Irishman Brian Kinnealy with Tanner breaking away from the lead group to take 2nd on the stage. Lovatt reluctantly dons the yellow jersey telling all who will listen that he has no intention of defending it. His teammates know better. STAGE ; Tanner 2nd@48s , Lovatt 7th@ 1-20 , Randle 13th @ 1-20 GC ; Lovatt 1st , Tanner 20th @ 3.29 , Randle [email protected] TEAM ; 3rd at 3-16 |
| STAGE 3 NEWPORT – OUGHTERARD 75 mile |
| Today the day the riders start to show their form to the race ; again all three riders make the final cut. Lovatt increases his lead in the yellow jersey and Randle takes 2nd on the stage. Team moves up to 2nd overall. The stage is won by Julian Winn who is showing great form. STAGE ; Randle 2nd st , Lovatt 5th@ 5sec , Tanner 7th at 5sec GC L Lovatt 1st by 13sec , Tanner 11th at 3.29 , Randle 14th at 4.09 Team ; 2nd at 21sec . |
| STAGE 4 ; OUGHTERARD – LISTOWEL 106 Mile |
| If everything had gone well to date this was the day it went wrong. Thirty riders went from the gun soon establishing a big lead of 5 minutes. Randle had only just made the break, meanwhile Lovatt and Tanner were stranded in the group and could find no one to ride with them, eventually losing almost 5 minutes to the leaders. Whilst Randle salvaged some respect with a 3rd on the stage, Lovatts days in yellow were over, and seemingly now out of contention . Irish rider David O Loughlin takes the yellow jersey . Further controversy arose when Randle was fined £50 for public indecency offence ( ie pissing on the start line ). Rumour was rife in the team camp that the USA team had only been fined £ 20 for the same offence giving speculation that the fine was on a £ 5 per inch basis. STAGE ; Randle 3rd at 4s , Lovatt 27th @ 4.52 , Tanner 28th @ 4.52 GC ; Randle 6th at 3.31 , Lovatt 7th at 3.55 , Tanner 17th at 7.24 Team 4th at 8.00 |
| STAGE 5 ; LISTOWEL – KENMARE 106 Mile |
| Todays stage took in the Rink of Kerry and included the Cat 1 Coomakista pass climb . A 10 man break quickly established itself with the main contenders jockeying in the main bunch. On the climb of Coomakista Pass, Lovatt attacked the bunch and in a do or die attack soon bridging to the leading group. As Gethin Butler soloed away to a well earned victory, Lovatt took the 3rd on the stage , but his efforts received scant reward as the bunch closed the gap on him to 20 seconds. O Loughlin meanwhile continued to impress the Pro Vision team with his holding of the yellow jersey. STAGE ; 3rd Lovatt at 50 sec , 62 Tanner,63 Randle at 1-11 GC ; Randle 6th at 3.21 , Lovatt 8th at 3.34 , Tanner 16th at 7-24 TEAM ; 2nd at 3.47 |
| STAGE 6 ; KENMARE – MITCHELSTOWN 89 Mile |
| If stage 4 was the day it went wrong , today was the day the riders produced one of the finest displays of team riding ever seen at the Ras. At 20 miles the stage hit the tough category 1 climb Inchee Mountain. An initial attack by Julian Winn was joined by Randle and Tanner with Lovatt following close behind . At the top of the mountain an 8 man break had formed with around 30 second gap. Winn and the Pro Vision trio had a gap on all the main contenders and were quick to take their chance. The riders began the 70 mile ride to the finish and soon the gap began to rise, after 30 mile 1 minute , 50 mile 2.30 , 70 mile 4 minute, putting Winn the race leader on the road and Randle and Lovatt 2nd and 3rd .Surviving a puncture by Randle the riders crossed the line with a 4 minute gap on the bunch . In what was the highlight of the entire race the riders rode with true panache and style. In stark contrast to the bold do or die riding styles of Winn and the Pro Vision team was the leech like race long performance of Irish rider and eventual stage winner David Mcann , always with an excuse not to ride. His inability to work prompted the rumour that he was under investigation from the DHSS ("I cant work theyíll stop my dole"). STAGE ; 3rd Lovatt , 4th Tanner , 6 th Randle all at 6 sec GC ; Winn 1st , Randle 2nd at 1.20 m Lovatt 3rd ar 1.33 , Tanner 10th at 5.23 TEAM ; 1st by 9.25 |
| STAGE 7 ; MITCHELSTOWN – ENISCORTHY |
| The teams task was now clearly to protect the 2nd and 3rd overall and also try to dislodge Julian Winn from the top spot . The Irish rider David O Loughlin established an 7 man early break, including Tommy Evans and John Tanner . O Loughlin was riding to win back his yellow jersey and his bold move almost succeeded as the break gained 3 minutes making him leader on the road . With the Welsh team driving the bunch , and the Pro Vision placings of 2nd and 3rds under threat, Randle and Lovatt joined the chase, rapidly bringing the gap down to 1 minute. As the gap fell so the lead group splintered. First to attack was Ray Clarke who established a 30 second lead, Tanner saw his chance and after a long chase finally got across to Clarke . Meanwhile the brave effort of O Loughlin ended when the bunch caught the remainder of the break with 5k to go. This left Tanner and Clarke and a third Scottish rider clear of the bunch. At 4k they had 20 seconds , 3k 15 seconds , 2k 10 seconds . With Tanner being left to do all the work it looked like the bunch would catch them but the bunch eased slightly leaving Tanner to take the uphill sprint easily from his two breakaway rivals . STAGE ; 1st Tanner , 12th Randle at 10 sec , 21st Lovatt at 10 sec GC ; 2nd Randle 1-20 , 3rd Lovatt 1.33 , 10th Tanner 5.13 TEAM ; 1st by 9.35 |
| STAGE 8 ; ENISCORTHY ó TULLOW |
| This was the last chance the riders would have to take the yellow jersey from Julian Winn. With three first cat climbs including the brutal Wicklow gap the Pro Vision riders were eyeing the yellow jersey . The stage unfolded but for the first time the team were riding on dead legs. The hard riding from the past three days had caught up with them. Rather than attacking the yellow jersey the team found their 2nd and 3rd positions under heavy pressure , most notably from David O Loughlin and Gethin Butler . As the race topped the last climb of Wicklow gap the three Pro Vision riders were being constantly attacked and decided to abandon hopes of yellow and ride hard to the finish to protect their overall positions. STAGE ; 7th Lovatt at 1.17, 11 Randle , 16 Tanner GC 2nd Randle 1.24 m 3rd Lovatt 1.24 , 10th Tanner 5.04 TEAM ; 1st by 9.35 |
| STAGE 9 ; DUBLIN CITY CENTRE CRIT |
| Stage won by Tommy Evans , everyone in the main field no change overall . |
So thats it ; the story of how an unfashionable 3 man team of rivet riders took on the cream of Ireland , 5 man teams from Scandinavia , Belgium , Scotland and Germany . Final pro vision positions ; Overall ; 2nd , 3rd , 10th Points ; 3rd Team ; 1st by 9.47 Stages ; 1st , 2nd , 2nd , 3rd , 3rd , 3rd ,5th , 5th |
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