Lee Harvey Ras Diary 2022

Stage 3 Castleisland - Lisdoonvarna 17th June

Day 3, queen stage, finished.

Another really aggressive day of racing with a cross-tail wind straight out of the neutral leading to fast and furious racing. Loads of moves going up the road and I got myself into a few but nothing that stuck. Eventually the days main break went and the big teams started to control the bunch which meant it was time to head back to the team car for a feed. I picked up bottles for myself and the team and headed back through the bunch. Not long after the racing picked up again as the break hit 4 minutes and the gc teams began to panic about brining it back, this lead to massive line outs stringing the field out through the villages and roundabouts. We hit the climbs with about 20 km to go and the bunch got blown to bits . We hit the top of the first major climb of the day which was very open with big crosswinds and the bunch had been cut in half. A rapid descent followed with a lot of jockeying for position for the main climb of the day. Hitting the climb I was a little too far back but picked my way forward until I was in between the group of gc favourites and the remains of the bunch.

Over the top a group of us gathered ourselves and chased onto the gc group. Coming out of the last corner I was well positioned but after a hard climb and chase I just didn’t have the legs to get up in the group. My legs have got better as every day had passed so hopefully I can go all in for a result over the next couple of days.

Stage 3 results can be found clicking HERE well done to Adam Ward Team Ireland on a fine result