Maggy Ireland stage 3Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O completely ruled the roads during today’s penultimate stage of the 2008 Tour of Ireland. After repeated attacks by Magnus Backstedt and Martijn Maaskant, Maggy (above) made and drove the day’s break, working the group’s lead on the peloton to over four minutes. With Maggy the virtual leader - and #1 decoy - on the road, Columbia was forced to chase, leaving their leader Cavendish dangling.

David Millar then came in with the follow-up punch and strung out the peloton with an attack on the final climb that left race leader Cavendish gasping behind. Propelled over the hard day’s final climb by David’s efforts, Kiwi Guy finished in the front group and 9th on the stage. Though it seemed certain that Julian had taken over the race lead, it wasn’t until all the intermediate time bonuses were considered that officials realized the stage winner - Russel Downing - had taken the overall lead on Julian by two measly, little, tiny, stinky seconds!!

The team is looking forward to tomorrow’s final stage 5 that includes four laps of a very tough 17 km finishing circuit with the infamous 25% grade St. Patrick’s Hill.

Team Garmin-Chipotle stage results
1. Russell Downing 4h19′56″
9. Julian Dean +00″
24. David Millar +59″
50. Trent Lowe +8′35″
63. Magnus Backstedt +11′08″
64. Martijn Maaskant +11′08″

Team Garmin-Chipotle GC
1. Russell Downing 18h14′54″
2. Julian Dean +02″
23. David Millar +1′17″
44. Trent Lowe +8′53″
48. Magnus Backstedt +11′23″
65. Martijn Maaskant +21′06″