Lee Harvey Ras Diary 2022

Stage 2 Horse and Jockey - Castleisland 11th June

Its a Good Evening from Me and a good Morning for you by the time Colm Posts this on the website, I'm starting to enjoy these updates as it really gives me a chance to tell you and whoever chooses to read what goes on inside a 150+ rider peloton winding its way through the roads of Ireland. This race is unique in the fact that we have some of the most scenic and toughest roads west of Belgium and the Ras will always be the Ras!

Another early start to get sorted for breakfast and head down to the start. A busy 5 mile neutral to start off today with a lot of jockeying for position early on as there were no time gaps on the GC ( General Classification) The first hour was absolutely full gas again averaging over 30mph it only settled once a small break got away and the GC teams started controlling the gap. The gap to the break slowly came down over the next 1hr 30 as we started to hit the climbs. There were a few sketchy moments with a couple of crashes but thankfully I managed to get through with unscathed.

A cat 3 with about 50km to go was the launch pad for the racing kicking off again as the Irish team drove the pace along with Trinity to bring most of the break back. After a fast decent I found myself in a small group off the front and knowing the last climb didn’t suit me I decided to attack solo with 10km to go and got a gap of about 15 seconds on the bunch but as the pace picked up for the GC riders on the climb I was brought back and got into the 3rd group on the road. Unfortunately over the top of the climb I dropped my chain on a rough patch and dropped back into the 4th group losing around 3 minutes to the winners.

I’m still happy with my performance today and with 3 more chances for a stage result I’m looking forward to the next few stages. I hope your enjoying my updates as much as I am enjoying the race the whole experience the team and back up crew have been amazing!!

Full Stage and Overall results Click HERE

Stage 2 Highlights Click HERE

Photos Sean Rowe