Tour Of Omagh 2016
Tour Of Omagh 2016
Tour of Omagh (Omagh 3 Day)
Is one of the country’s top organised Road Race events for riders of A4 Category and is a great introduction to stage racing, where a lot of riders learn the ropes and get used to riding over consecutive days. This is a highly oversubscribed event and Carn Wheelers were privileged to have a full team of 5 Riders for the Mens Race and 1 Rider in the Womans.
Riders:
Shane Elder
Nigel Gibson
Stephen Murtagh
Dean Lockhart
Tony O’Doherty
Mairead McCrory
Support Team:
Michael Scullion
Nicky Gormley
Joe McCrory
Stage 1 – (Friday PM) - Road stage (40 miles)
This started on Friday evening with what was presumed a
short and fairly straightforward route around Ballygawley, Clogher, Fintona,
but it was clear form the first KOM that the riders were not going to stay
together as riders dropped off the back and took risks on the decent trying to
regain contact with the main bunch, which led to a few crashes but all Carn
Wheelers made it through intact so far. Shane dropped off the back at one stage
but battled hard to regain contact with the main bunch again. The 2ndKOM led to more splits in the group with Dean and Nigel powering on towards the end, finishing in the first
group, picking up Mairead and a few other from the Women’s race, which got a 10
min head start. Closely followed were Tony, Stephen and Shane to finish a great
evening of stage racing and off to rest up for the TT in the morning.
Stage 2 (Saturday AM)- Time Trial (2.5 miles)
This was a short fast TT stage against the clock where riders were set off at 1 min intervals.
Fastest rider on the TT was Daniel Daly of Phoenix cc with a time of 4’53’39, but it was another Phoenix Rider David Wright who had the honour of wearing the Yellow Jersey for the afternoon stage to follow as he leads the overall GC.
Times below for Carn Wheelers Riders
Mens
4th - Lockhart,Dean - Carn Wheelers - 05'04.75"
16th - O'Doherty,Tony - Carn Wheelers - 05'11.13"
31th - Elder,Shane - Carn Wheelers - 05'18.13"
43th - Murtagh,Stephen - Carn Wheelers - 05'22.98"
50th - Gibson,Nigel - Carn Wheelers - 05'25.09"
Womans
6th - McCrory,Mairead - Carn Wheelers - 05'32.09"
Dean’s 4th position in the TT should reward him
with a few Cycling Ireland points and allow him to Progress up to A3 level for
next year and as he says goodbye to A4 racing after this weekend.
Stage 3 – (Saturday PM) Road stage (46miles)
Going into Stage 3 Carn Top GC Rider Dean Lockhart sits 3rdin the GC just 5 Seconds of the Yellow Jersey
Shortly after the morning TT stage the riders were back in action for another testing road stage across the Sperrins in Co. Tyrone. It was crucial to remain in the bunch as the cross winds on the Cookstown Omagh road proved extremely punishing to those riders dropped on the KOM’s in Carrickmore
John O’Regan (St Tiernan’s) took the risk and established a gap over the chasing field. He maintained the lead until the chequered flag taking the win with the peleton dangerously close coming to the finish line. Most of the Carn men were in the main peloton and Tony finished in 7th place in the sprint. Mairead was caught by the men with 2 miles to go to the finish and lost a few precious minutes on the leading women. Shane fought well to finish only a few minutes back in a small groupetto.
All to play for on the last day.
O’Regan was rewarded for his efforts by not only taking the overall leaders jersey, but also the Sprints competition and the coveted Combativity competition.
Stage 4 (Sunday PM) - Road stage (46 miles)
Going into Stage 4 Carn Top GC Rider Dean sits 4thin the GC just 18 Seconds of the Yellow Jersey.
There were plenty of hills to today with 2 x Category 3 climbs and 1 x Category 1 Climb towards the end which would surely shake up the GC.
Even the Carn Wheelers Team Car was making progress over the weekend as they started near the back Friday evening by the luck of the draw, but was up to No4 for the last stage with the riders ranked so highly, and could see a lot more of the action on the final stage.
Most of the riders negotiated the first 2 KOMs today fairly comfortably with only a few riders losing contact, but as expected the last Category 1 climb of the day would split the bunch and due to such narrow roads and riders filling the road, Carns best climbers would get caught out and crested the top of the climb just behind a small group of leaders which contained the yellow jersey.
With only 7 mile left to the finish it was fast and frantic as the Carn men tried to bridge the gap to the front bunch, but it wasn’t to be as they finished just behind the leader and lost a few more seconds on GC.
Great Weekends racing organised by Omagh Wheelers as always, and Carn Wheelers would like to thank all those involved in this great event and everyone who came out to cheer the riders along the way.
Final Results to follow…
.jpg)