First yellow to Woods

Cycling: Barry Woods of the Ireland Stena Line team took the first yellow jersey of this year's M Donnelly Junior Tour yesterday…

Cycling: Barry Woods of the Ireland Stena Line team took the first yellow jersey of this year's M Donnelly Junior Tour yesterday evening with a storming performance in the stage one time-trial.

The Kerry rider covered the tough hilly course in Waterford city in fractionally over one minute, pipping Team Dataphonics rider Mark Cavandish by a mere 200ths of a second.

Third place went to Frenchman Gwenael Conte, who was just over a second further back.

Team manager Tom Keenan said his team would defend the yellow jersey on today's 60-mile second stage, from Waterford to Dungarvan and back.

"The stages are quite short and we have a strong team, so we will try to keep Barry in yellow," said Keenan, who identified the Dataphonics team as one of their biggest threats.

Certainly, with Cavandish so close to the leader, the racing is certain to be fast and furious today.

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Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes

Shane Stokes is a contributor to The Irish Times writing about cycling