A day of drama, a day of backbreaking climbs and flat-out racing. Yet, at the end of yesterday's stage of the FBD Milk Ras, all the main contenders finished within a handful of seconds of each other. Five stages down, three to go. The suspense continues.
First to the chequered flag in Skibbereen was German Christian Knees, the Deutsche Telecom rider taking his first, and the German team's third, stage of the week.
Knees exhibited an explosive turn of speed to cross the line two lengths clear, with the Swede Jukla Heinikainen, Paul Manning of Great Britain and Meath Cycleway's Eugene Moriarty separated into second, third and fourth by a photofinish.
Close scrutiny was also required to split Olympic bronze medallist Manning and Knees in the overall standings, with the former taking yellow by virtue of his better stageplacings to date.
The previous race leader, Swiss professional David Chassot, finished in the heart of the main group and now lags seven seconds back in third, with Mark Scanlon recovering from a crash in the closing miles to remain in close attendance.
Story of the day, however, was the awe-inspiring, stagelong breakaway which threw the main bunch into disarray.
At the drop of the flag, 1999 champion Phil Cassidy, teammate Moriarty, Derry Classic Wall's Ray Clarke, Kerry's Denis O'Shea and HSBC pro Nicholas White took off; committed to the cause, they rode strongly up the stunningly picturesque first category ascents of Ladies View, Moll's Gap and Turner's Rock to open a commanding lead over those behind.
O'Shea was first to fade, then Cassidy, who had given his all to try to help an impressive Moriarty take yellow. So much so, in fact, that the brave Meathman lost 18 minutes, collapsed at the finish and required medical attention.
As for the remaining trio, they were eventually joined by Manning, Heinikainen and Knees, helping them to hold off a lastgasp effort by two Davids, Ireland Shannon Oak's McCann and Germany's Kopp, plus the late charge by the main bunch.
"I am amazed that they nearly caught us," said a remarkably fresh Moriarty at the finish. "We were doing 40 miles a hour at times coming in the road, but they still closed the gap right down."
