NEIL JONES of Wales won the second stage of the Credit Union Junior Tour yesterday - 70 miles from Tralee to Killorglin - but the Belgian Jo Chevalier retained the leader's jersey.
It is very tight at the top with the first six all on the same time but that situation should be resolved this morning with a six miles time trial between Killorglin and Killarney. There will then be 52 miles on to Bantry in the afternoon.
On the testing route yesterday through Camp and Annascaul Jones broke away with Paul Helion (Amev), Paul O'Callaghan (Ireland), Martin Lonie (Scotland) and Danny Connolly (Yorkshire) but on the approach to Killorglin only Helion was still with Jones.
Helion tried to go clear with just over a mile to go but Jones countered the move and then launched an attack himself which proved successful. Jones pulled away to win by 57 seconds and Helion just held onto second place as the fast moving pack closed on him.
Chevalier was best in the sprint for third place, ahead of Ross Blayney and O'Callaghan, but in the overall classification Chevalier leads on points with Simon Kelly, Barry Twohig, Kristof Freyne, Tom Barrass and Ross Muir all on the same time.
Chevalier has 18 points to 11 for Blayney and to for Jones while Twohig heads the King of the Mountains competition with Chevalier second.
