Words by Mark Murphy Photos by Caroline Kerley

Monday’s final stage of the Ras Mumhan consisted of 113km rolling out from Killorglin onto the Annadale road for three laps around Beaufort and then 10 laps of the historical Killorglin town circuit.

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Overnight leader Luke Tuckwell of Trinity racing had 33 seconds over second place Dom Jackson of Foran CT, and 42 seconds off third place Tom Martin of All Human Velo Revolution.
The race’s roll out time was 10 am and the bunch sat at speeds up and over 50 kmph, with the 113km stage being completed in under two and a half hours.
Hard probing attacks were seen by Daire Feely from the outset who was 1 minute and 50 seconds off the pace going into Monday’s stage, clearly desperate to try and upset Trinity Racing’s game plan.
Coming in to Beaufort for the first lap, a group of nine riders held a gap of 22 seconds, with Daire Feely seeming to be driving it on desperate to pull back his deficit on the overall leaders.
Weather proved to be onside for the day as the dry roads allowed for a wicked pace as the front group managed to extend their gap up to 34 seconds.
Entering Killorglin for start of Lap two, the breakaway shortened to 23 seconds until they were eventually hauled in.
With the peloton back together, attacks were endless until a huge split arose in the bunch stretching to 43 seconds before entering Beaufort for the last time.
Yellow Jersey holder Tuckwell was in the chase desperate not to lose any time and working well with his team mates of Trinity Racing.
Mitchell McLoughlin of All Human Velo rEvolution, Seth Dunwoody, Cycling Ireland, Adam Lewis of Team Skyline, Lindsay Watson of Cycling Ulster and Conor McKennon of team Isle of Man, had a 55 second gap heading in to the 10 laps of Killorglin.
Tensions were high and crashes occurred with riders coming down on the road coming in to Killorglin.
The five riders managed to hold on to their lead for four laps until Dunwoody launched an attack joined by Lewis, which was bridged across by Thomas Springbett, Paul Kennedy Odhran Doogan and Mitchell McLoughlin.
Entering the last lap, Trinity were closing down every break with the remainder of the peloton all together with 3km to go.
Joe Pidccock of Trinity Racing, managed to outsprint Doogan of Caldwell Wheelers and Patrick O’Loughlin of Greenmount Cycling Academy, to take the win with Luke Tuckwell neatly packed in the group behind to take his win on General Classification and retain his Yellow Jersey.