Mayo gets a flavour of ’Le Tour’

Mighty Marco has the final word


Martin Ayres

ITALY’S Marco Pinotti emerged as the overall winner of the Professional Tour of Ireland in a pulsating finish at Cork on Sunday. After 880 kilometres of racing, including a stage through Mayo and Galway, Pinotti had a winning margin of 19 seconds from overnight leader Russell Downing of Britain, with New Zealander Julian Dean, third at 21 seconds.
The final result was in doubt right until the closing kilometres of the five-day race. Team Columbia’s Pinotti launched his attack with just ten kilometres to go and it carried him to the first stage race victory of his career.
It was a good result for the race as Pinotti is a class rider, three times Italian time trial champion and a stage winner in this year’s Giro d’Italia; and it was a good result for the sport as Columbia is a team which takes a strong anti-doping stance. Roger Aiken was the leading Irish rider in 22nd place overall, while Mayo’s David O’Loughlin retired on the fourth day.
Columbia dominated the race with its star sprinter, Mark Cavendish, taking the first three stages. Billed as the fastest sprinter in the world, Cavendish justified all the hype with wins at Waterford, Loughrea and Galway.
The diminutive Manxman showed his class and courage on Friday’s 200-kilometre leg from Ballinrobe to Galway. Only 30 kilometres from the finish, Cavendish crashed heavily on a descent made greasy by oil and drizzle. He picked himself up and after a hectic chase regained the leading group in time for the final sprint and another victory to add to his four in this year’s Tour de France and two in the Giro d’Italia.
The pro Tour of Ireland was revived in 2007 after losing its place in the world calendar in the early 1990s. On the evidence of this year’s exciting event, it looks as though the organisers, supported by Failte Ireland and An Post, have found a winning formula.
Result: 1, Marco Pinotti (Columbia) 881km in 21 hrs 43 mins 16 secs, average 40.6kph (25.2mph); 2, Russell Downing (Pinarello CandiTV) at 19 secs; 3, Julian Dean (Garmin Chipotle) at 21 secs; 4, Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) at 33 secs; 5, Michael Barry (Columbia) at 36 secs. Points: Downing; Mountains: Wilson; Team: Columbia.

Mayo gets a flavour of ‘Le Tour’
BALLINROBE gave stage three of the Tour of Ireland a stylish send off, with a big race atmosphere evident as the town enjoyed its few hours in the media spot- light.
The Cornmarket and several surrounding streets were closed to traffic to facilitate Friday’s start. Overnight, the area was transformed into a ‘Tour village’ with a hospitality area for guests, teams, officials, media and sponsors to mingle before the stage start.
It’s an idea borrowed from the Tour de France and was appreciated by several guests from the local cycling fraternity, who enjoyed rubbing shoulders with some of the big names in the sport
Shortly after 10am the Garda motor cycle escort team took up their positions, the riders lined up and County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Joe Mellett dropped the start flag to send the 100-man peloton on its way. Immediately work started on dismantling the Tour village, which would be recreated in Limerick for the next day’s start. A small army of voluntary helpers is needed to keep the show on the road and Mayo officials working on the Tour throughout its five days included Brendan Quigley (Partry), Padraig Marrey (Ballinrobe) and Joe McGuire (Westport).

O’Loughlin back on home ground
JUST 12 days after competing in the Olympics, David O’Loughlin returned to action in the Tour of Ireland. After the long build-up to Beijing, O’Loughlin might have been forgiven for putting the bike away for a few weeks. In fact, he had just a few days at home before travelling to Dublin for the ToI start. “”I’ve had my post-Olympic break,” he said wryly at the Salthill finish.
The long opening stage, 192-kilometres from Dublin to Waterford saw O’Loughlin struggling and he crossed the finish line with the stragglers, 13 minutes down. However, he recovered over the next two days and finished in the same time as stage winner Cavendish at both Loughrea and Galway.
The Olympian turned domestique on the Ballinrobe to Galway stage, twice dropping back to the team car and loading himself up drinking bottles and food to take forward to his team-mates. “I tried to make myself useful,” he explained.
Sadly, O’Loughlin’s involvement in the Tour of Ireland ended the next day when, 100 kilometres into the fourth stage, he pulled out of the race.
Asked about his plans for the future, O’Loughlin confirmed that he would again be concentrating on his Olympic event, the track pursuit. “I’ll be starting my training for the first round of the World Track Cup,” he said, looking forward to the three-day event which takes place in Manchester at the end of October.

Cong in the frame for next year
THE Tour of Ireland is run in association with Failte Ireland, which uses the event to showcase Ireland’s attractions to tourists. Television is an important tool in this campaign, and 50-minute reports of the race were screened nightly on both RTE and ITV5 in the UK. Broadcasters in France, Scandinavia, Russia, South Africa, Australia, USA and Asia also featured the race.
Friday’s programme included an entertaining feature on Cong but blink and you missed the Westport and Louisburgh sections. This was possibly because Croagh Patrick and Clew Bay were hidden in the mist, and the cameras concentrated on the very eventful final kilometres into Satlhill, Galway.

Pezula checks out after short stay
THE opening stages of the Tour of Ireland were enlivened by attacks by the Pezula team. Every day a Pezula man would break away and grab the limelight for a couple of hours before being chased down by the peloton. They were racing, not for the glory of Pezula but to catch the eyes of team managers who might sign them up. The ToI was the last race for the Galway team as its main sponsor has pulled out. They departed with their heads held high thanks to Sweden’s John Ericsson who gave Pezula their best result of the season by taking second place on the final stage.