Donegal's Doogan takes Rás yellow as Perrett clinches stage two in Clifden
The yellow jersey changed hands after the second day of this year's Rás Tailteann proved to be just as stern a test of the riders' grit and guts as the first.
Donegal's Odhran Doogan, representing Cycling Ulster, surged into the leader's colours taking the yellow jersey from Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase-Cabtech-Castelli) after 170.9km of hard road from Charlestown, Co Mayo south to Clifden, Co Galway.
Englishman Will Perrett came out on top to take stage two honours and admitted it hadn't been easy going. "It was a really, really tough stage," said the DAS Richardsons rider. "This final run-in, it was just chopping off into the crosswind and that was so tough. I saw I had the gap and just committed. I managed to stay away [on my own]. I'm really happy. It's my first win at the Rás."
Nottingham-born Perrett would have been claiming the yellow jersey were it not for a crash 3.5km from the end of the opening day's stage but has his eyes on moving up.
The morning's leader Shoreman couldn't reel in a break from the main group but Doogan and a smaller chasing pack caught up with that leading bunch and he managed to finish third in the stage to take command at the top, thanks to his points tally from the climbs and sprints. In the process Doogan becomes the first ever Donegal man to wear the leaders yellow jersey of the Ras.
Friday's third stage will see the riders set off from Cong, Co Mayo and then take the scenic route down the Wild Atlantic Way before an exciting end awaits them. Fans are likely to see a sprint finish as the rivals come into Miltown Malbay in Co Clare.
Elsewhere Olav Kooij sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia as Isaac Del Toro retained the pink jersey in Viadana.
Kooij was helped by a superb lead-out from Visma-Lease A Bike team-mate Wout Van Aert, with Casper van Uden second over the line ahead of Britain's Ben Turner.
The 172km stage from Modena, the first opportunity for the quick men in a week, came down to the final few bends of a technical finish left slightly damp by earlier rain in Viadana, and Van Aert used all his experience to win the fight for position going into the final sharp left-hander.
Team Picnic PostNL's Van Uden tried to go long with his sprint after being left with a slight gap as the road straightened out, but Kooij kept his cool to take the win while the Ineos Grenadiers' Turner held off Mads Pedersen for the last step on the podium.
A small crash in the peloton with around one kilometre left to go neutralised the times for the overall standings, allowing the general classification contenders to sit up. Del Toro leads by 33 seconds from his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Juan Ayuso with Bahrain-Victorious rider Antonio Tiberi third.
Bonus seconds saw Wednesday's stage winner Richard Carapaz move up to fourth, on the same time as Kooij's team-mate Simon Yates in fifth, one minute and 11 seconds off pink.
With files from PA
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