recycling.co.uk / MG XPower / Litespeed’s Chris Newton today won the 2nd stage of the FBD Insurance RAS in Ireland in front of former top continental pro rider Malcolm Elliott (Trinity Capital), and now leads the race overall.

Winner of this race in 2003, the double World Champion was part of an initial nine-man group that formed after the decent of the second category Bellavalley Gap climb after 73km. This group was eventually whittled down to just four riders with 27km remaining, with Elliott the only man close to Newton in the overall classification.

As the escapees neared the finish in Tubbercurry with 8km remaining, Newton and Elliott showed their superiority and left their two breakaway companions to sprint it out for the win together.

Both riders have a sprinting pedigree at the highest level, albeit both in different disciplines, with Newton’s on the track where he became World Points Champion in 2002 and Elliott’s on the road, where he won the Points Competition in the Tour of Spain ten years ago.

Elliott led out the sprint with Newton coming round in the last 50 metres to take a well-deserved win to lead the race by 8 seconds, with the 3rd placed rider at 2minutes 16 seconds.

Team mate Rob Sharman finished at the front of the chase group in 6th, and is now in 5th place overall at 2 minutes 32 seconds.

The FBD Milk Ras is a gruelling event and one of a kind in Ireland. You can get regular live updates on the stages from www.irishcycling.com