Rowan Baker, guesting for Isle of Man CC this week, wins the opening stage of the 2026 Rás Tailteann in Kilmallock on Wednesday, taking the first yellow jersey from a four-rider breakaway.
Rowan Baker won the opening stage of the 2026 Rás Tailteann from a four-rider breakaway in Kilmallock. The JAKROO Handsling rider, guesting for the Isle of Man team, outsprinted Ewan Mackie, Danylo Riwnyj and Adam Lewis to take the first yellow jersey of the race.
Featured image: Lorraine O’Sullivan
Report
The opening stage of the 2026 Rás Tailteann had looked, on the route sheet at least, like one that might tilt back towards the sprinters. Rowan Baker made sure it did not. After 161.6 kilometres from Portlaoise to Kilmallock, the 2025 Peak 2 Day winner — riding this week as a guest for the Isle of Man CC squad rather than his usual JAKROO Handsling colours — finished off a four-rider move that had been clear for the best part of 75 kilometres.
He beat Ewan Mackie (Connacht Cycling), Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT) and Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling) to the line, with the peloton arriving 46 seconds later led home by Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) in fifth.
Image: Lorraine O’Sullivan
Kilmallock had been the scene of a stage one break victory before: Alex Pritchard won here in 2024 from the early move that set up Dom Jackson’s eventual overall victory. The same template held today.
After about 75 kilometres of attacks and counter-attacks that the bunch was unwilling to let settle, a nine-rider move finally cleared the front. It contained Karl Hall (Hucare Factory), Niek Hoornsman (West-Frisia), Matthew Walls (APS Pro Cycling), Archie Peet (O’Neills Spirit), George Peden (PB Performance), Liam Crowley (Team Ireland), Paul Kennedy (Burren CC), Bryan McCrystal (Unit 7 Castlebar) and Lindsay Watson (Caldwell Powerhouse Racing). The advantage stretched to around 30 seconds, but the climbs in the middle of the stage took it apart almost as quickly.
Crowley took the first mountains points at Dolla ahead of Hall and Watson. But at Bollingbrook, four kilometres later, the front of the race had reshuffled. Lewis took the prime ahead of Crowley and Willem O’Connor (O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and pressed on alone over the top. Baker, Mackie and Riwnyj bridged across, the earlier nine were caught, and the four who would contest the stage were clear.
What followed was striking for the steadiness of the gap rather than its drama. With 30 kilometres to go, the leaders had a minute and a half. With 20 to go, still a minute and a half. With 10 to go, slightly more. Only inside the final five did the bunch begin to make any inroads, and even then the four were still a minute clear with two kilometres to ride. Sprint teams were chasing, but never with the conviction of teams who actually believed they would close it. Lewis took the prime at the final classified climb of Old Pallas too, leaving him with the maximum ten points on the day; Mackie, Baker and Riwnyj completed the top four over the top.
Baker timed the four-up sprint cleanly to take a stage that marked his second road race win of the year after victory at the Kennel Hill Classic in March.
Image: Lorraine O’Sullivan
Mackie’s second place, a guest ride for Connacht Cycling away from his usual UCI Continental outfit Madar Pro Cycling Team, leaves the 23-year-old second on bonus-adjusted general classification. Riwnyj’s third underlined the form that carried him to overall victory at Rás Mumhan over Easter — and bore out the read in The British Continental’s preview that the 27-year-old looked primed for a big win. Three bonus seconds at the Hospital intermediate sprint, combined with his stage podium, put him third on GC at five seconds. Lewis, meanwhile, departs the day in the Irish Independent King of the Mountains jersey — the same prize he wore here last year on his way to sixth overall — and fourth on GC at nine seconds.
Behind, Shoreman won the bunch sprint for fifth ahead of Oliver Curd (DAS Richardsons) and Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Powerhouse Racing). A three-time stage winner here and former points jersey holder, Shoreman had not raced on the road since a criterium in the United States in April, his only competitive outing since his Great Britain track debut at February’s European Championships. He had already taken three bonus seconds at the day’s first hotspot sprint in Ballacolla. On the evidence of Kilmallock, the form is there.
The result in, plus the 10-second winner’s bonus, gives Baker the first yellow jersey of the race and immediately places the Isle of Man squad back at the centre of a race they won overall last year through George Kimber.
The best of the home riders was Matteo Cigala (Dan Morrissey) in tenth, which puts him in the leader’s jersey of the Sport Ireland Irish County Rider classification — three seconds clear of Patrick O’Loughlin (Galway Bay CC), eighth on the stage and now leading the Spin 11 U23 classification, with Doogan a further second back. The rest of the GC contenders — Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling), Dom Jackson (Foran CT), Bostock and the rest — finish the day on the same 46-second deficit. There is plenty of time still in this race, in other words, but no margin to give.
Image: Lorraine O’Sullivan
For the sprinters, it was a missed opportunity. For the general classification riders, it was a warning. The Rás has already started properly, and stage two — 182.9 kilometres from Rathmore to Banteer, with six categorised climbs including the Caha Pass and the Coughane Gap — will not let anyone hide.
Rowan Baker won the opening stage of the 2026 Rás Tailteann from a four-rider breakaway in Kilmallock. The JAKROO Handsling rider, guesting for the Isle of Man team, outsprinted Ewan Mackie, Danylo Riwnyj and Adam Lewis to take the first yellow jersey of the race.
Featured image: Lorraine O’Sullivan
Report
The opening stage of the 2026 Rás Tailteann had looked, on the route sheet at least, like one that might tilt back towards the sprinters. Rowan Baker made sure it did not. After 161.6 kilometres from Portlaoise to Kilmallock, the 2025 Peak 2 Day winner — riding this week as a guest for the Isle of Man CC squad rather than his usual JAKROO Handsling colours — finished off a four-rider move that had been clear for the best part of 75 kilometres.
He beat Ewan Mackie (Connacht Cycling), Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT) and Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling) to the line, with the peloton arriving 46 seconds later led home by Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) in fifth.
Kilmallock had been the scene of a stage one break victory before: Alex Pritchard won here in 2024 from the early move that set up Dom Jackson’s eventual overall victory. The same template held today.
After about 75 kilometres of attacks and counter-attacks that the bunch was unwilling to let settle, a nine-rider move finally cleared the front. It contained Karl Hall (Hucare Factory), Niek Hoornsman (West-Frisia), Matthew Walls (APS Pro Cycling), Archie Peet (O’Neills Spirit), George Peden (PB Performance), Liam Crowley (Team Ireland), Paul Kennedy (Burren CC), Bryan McCrystal (Unit 7 Castlebar) and Lindsay Watson (Caldwell Powerhouse Racing). The advantage stretched to around 30 seconds, but the climbs in the middle of the stage took it apart almost as quickly.
Crowley took the first mountains points at Dolla ahead of Hall and Watson. But at Bollingbrook, four kilometres later, the front of the race had reshuffled. Lewis took the prime ahead of Crowley and Willem O’Connor (O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and pressed on alone over the top. Baker, Mackie and Riwnyj bridged across, the earlier nine were caught, and the four who would contest the stage were clear.
What followed was striking for the steadiness of the gap rather than its drama. With 30 kilometres to go, the leaders had a minute and a half. With 20 to go, still a minute and a half. With 10 to go, slightly more. Only inside the final five did the bunch begin to make any inroads, and even then the four were still a minute clear with two kilometres to ride. Sprint teams were chasing, but never with the conviction of teams who actually believed they would close it. Lewis took the prime at the final classified climb of Old Pallas too, leaving him with the maximum ten points on the day; Mackie, Baker and Riwnyj completed the top four over the top.
Baker timed the four-up sprint cleanly to take a stage that marked his second road race win of the year after victory at the Kennel Hill Classic in March.
Mackie’s second place, a guest ride for Connacht Cycling away from his usual UCI Continental outfit Madar Pro Cycling Team, leaves the 23-year-old second on bonus-adjusted general classification. Riwnyj’s third underlined the form that carried him to overall victory at Rás Mumhan over Easter — and bore out the read in The British Continental’s preview that the 27-year-old looked primed for a big win. Three bonus seconds at the Hospital intermediate sprint, combined with his stage podium, put him third on GC at five seconds. Lewis, meanwhile, departs the day in the Irish Independent King of the Mountains jersey — the same prize he wore here last year on his way to sixth overall — and fourth on GC at nine seconds.
Behind, Shoreman won the bunch sprint for fifth ahead of Oliver Curd (DAS Richardsons) and Odhran Doogan (Caldwell Powerhouse Racing). A three-time stage winner here and former points jersey holder, Shoreman had not raced on the road since a criterium in the United States in April, his only competitive outing since his Great Britain track debut at February’s European Championships. He had already taken three bonus seconds at the day’s first hotspot sprint in Ballacolla. On the evidence of Kilmallock, the form is there.
The result in, plus the 10-second winner’s bonus, gives Baker the first yellow jersey of the race and immediately places the Isle of Man squad back at the centre of a race they won overall last year through George Kimber.
The best of the home riders was Matteo Cigala (Dan Morrissey) in tenth, which puts him in the leader’s jersey of the Sport Ireland Irish County Rider classification — three seconds clear of Patrick O’Loughlin (Galway Bay CC), eighth on the stage and now leading the Spin 11 U23 classification, with Doogan a further second back. The rest of the GC contenders — Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling), Dom Jackson (Foran CT), Bostock and the rest — finish the day on the same 46-second deficit. There is plenty of time still in this race, in other words, but no margin to give.
For the sprinters, it was a missed opportunity. For the general classification riders, it was a warning. The Rás has already started properly, and stage two — 182.9 kilometres from Rathmore to Banteer, with six categorised climbs including the Caha Pass and the Coughane Gap — will not let anyone hide.
Results
Stage 1
General classification
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