Stage Three of the Credit Union Junior Tour yesterday went to Bradley Wiggins of the English team Brite, although the top three race places remain unchanged.
Mark Scanlon of the Ireland team still leads from Yanto Barker (Britain) and Wiggins with Shane Prendergast (Ireland) now fourth, a long way ahead of the chasing pack, as most of those to the fore on the first two days slipped out of contention on yesterday's testing 80-miles stretch from Downpatrick to Clones.
Scanlon and Barker remain locked together on the same time as they head for Sligo today with Wiggins a minute and 45 seconds behind and Prendergast at 1:49, but fifth-placed Marko Kurits of Estonia is at 3:43. The six-mile time trial at Sligo tomorrow morning should resolve the deadlock between the Irish and British champions.
When Prendergast went with three others in pursuit of four breakaway riders on the road to Armagh, he was race leader, but then Scanlon and his closest rivals stepped up the pace and those out in front were all quickly reeled in. A group of 16 broke before Monaghan and although Prendergast was included, he lost four seconds on the run-in to Clones. In the sprint to the line, Wiggins, a triple British junior track champion and winner of the pursuit title at the world junior track championships in Cuba last month, got there first ahead of Kurits, Barker and Scanlon.
Scanlon also leads on points but Kurits is ahead of him in the king of the mountains category after the climb at Castlewellan yesterday. The Ireland Dixons squad heads the race's team classification.
Stage Three (80 miles from Downpatrick to Clones) - 1, B Wiggins (Team Brite) 3:14:48; 2, M Kurits (Estonia); 3, Y Barker (Britain); 4, M Scanlon (Ireland); 5, J Bann-Lavery (Ulster); 6, T Hogan (Connacht) all same time. Overall: 1, Scanlon 8:15:22; 2, Barker same time; 3, Wiggins at 1:45; 4, S Prendergast (Ireland) 1:49; 5, Kurits 3:43; 6, J van der Linden (Holland) 4:21. Points: 1, Scanlon 25; 2, Barker 22; 3, Kurits 19. King of the mountains: 1, Kurits 10; 2, Scanlon 7; 3, M McDonagh (Connacht) 6. Team: Ireland 24:52:39.
