Spar Tour of Omagh Stage 2 Race Report
Burns and Gormley Claim TT stage Victories
A beautiful summer morning greeted the cyclist for a 2-mile TT on the second morning of the Three Day. This TT is completed on road bikes only with no aero aids creating a level playing field. This didn’t deter Eileen Burns who stormed to the third fastest time on the day and the win in the women’s TT. She was closely followed by Hillary Hughes (Westport) and over night leader Maura Claffey (UCD) in third. Burns Ballymena team mate Sharon Bird was to ride a super TT and place fourth.
In the other battle Laura Wylie (Ulster) was to claw back some of the time she lost to Nikki Taggart (Women’s Commission) on the first stage.
IN the GC after the TT it couldn’t have been closer with Claffey holding a slender 4 second lead to Burns and Hughes a further 2 seconds back. There was a further four riders within 36 seconds all with chances as the afternoon approached
IN the A4 race the TT first and second were separate by 0.67 of a second with Nicky Gormley of Carn Wheelers just pipping the yellow jersey holder Davoren Fallon (DCU) and Duncan Halliday (Errigal) some 13 seconds behind in third. After stage 2 the GC still remains a close run affair with Gormley and Halliday in second and third both within 10 seconds of Fallon who would wear yellow again in the afternoon stage. The GC was still wide open with 25/26 riders within 38 second so still all to play for.