This wasn't a great day for US cyclists. Lance Armstrong dropped out of a rain-drenched Tour of Ireland with a sore back, and Tyler Farrar lost his overall lead at the Eneco Tour through Belgium and The Netherlands.
Tour of Ireland
Many came out to see the 7-time Tour de France winner for the final of the 3-stage Tour of Ireland in Cork on Sunday. CyclingNews said large crowds were at the finish, but were disappointed when Armstrong pulled out on the first circuit, never facing St. Patrick's Hill.
VeloNews says other cyclists soon followed suit, with only 47 finishing the race. At Twitter, Armstrong wrote:
“Rough day today on the bike. The ol' back was not in a good way and st patty's hill wasn't looking too cozy.”
Great Britain's Russell Downing of the Candi TV team won the Tour of Ireland; he finished second on the day to stage winner Lars Petter Nordhaug of the Joker Bianchi team. Marco Pinotti, last year's winner from the Columbia team, finished about 30-some seconds behind the stage winner and fifth overall.
Tour of Eneco
Stage 5 of the Tour of Eneco was billed as the “Little Amstel Gold Race;” in other words not a great one for sprinters like Washington's Tyler Farrar.
The sprinter for Garmin Slipstream had won three Tour of Eneco stages already, but Sunday's stage was too demanding. He was seen at the front of the peloton with Garmin teammate Bradly Wiggins in a last ditch effort to catch the breakaway.
They were unsuccessful as Denmark's Lars Bak of Team Saxo Bank attacked his breakaway mates to win by two seconds.
While Farrar finished 31 seconds behind the winner, he only dropped to second place in the overall competition to Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Columbia. More appropriately, he holds the overall sprint jersey in the race, which ends Tuesday.
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