Big name riders count cost of crash and long delay on Rás Tailteann

James O'Shea leads in Ruairí Byrne, with Team Ireland's Liam Crowley and Conor Murphy in the background, all 9:58 down (Photo: Toby Watson) One notable feature of the opening stage of Rás Tailteann into Kilmallock today, Wednesday, was the minutes lost by top riders.

Big name riders count cost of crash and long delay on Rás Tailteann. James O'Shea leads in Ruairí Byrne, with Team Ireland's Liam Crowley and Conor Murphy in the background, all 9:58 down (Photo: Toby Watson) One notable feature of the opening stage of Rás Tailteann into Kilmallock today, Wednesday, was the minutes lost by top riders. After the breakaway and then a group of 55 men, some 46 seconds down, there was a gap of four minutes to the next group. Then a gap of more than eight minutes and another of more than nine minutes. A crash played a very significant role in those gaps being created. Riders were trapped behind the mass spill - at a complete stop on the road for a prolonged period. The incident took place at road works on a very muddy and narrow road. It has wiped out of the hopes of some of the race’s key Irish riders. The inc...