Man o' the RÁS

A good start by Stuart MacGregor at the RAS - Tour of Ireland. Sitting 25th in the general classification after stages 1&2 in this high quality UCI 2.2 international race, Stuart finished at the front of the main peleton on Sunday's opening stage and was part of a 2nd main group who finished a minute ahead of the main bunch yesterday.

Today's 3rd stage sees the near 200 strong field go south-west from Tubbercurry to Lidoonvarna.

It's like buses

3rd again on Saturday at the Sant Joan sprint - the final in the Catalan series in the picturesque north of Catalonia near the Pyrenees. Luis Buscail, the Catalan champion made it look easy in first with Manu Juarez in second (both club Reus Ploms).

The first 5.5k was basically an up and down hill run, climbing 100m altitude over 2.5k. I got dropped by a fast running group of 4 but dug in to keep the gap at 15 secs going into transition. I was shattered going into the bike and struggled with my shoe change, the initial climb on the bike didn't help but i was fortunate to catch Joan Capdevila (2nd @ Banyoles last week) who also had problems with his shoes. We then quickly caught and dropped his teammate Jimenez and worked together well on the bike to try and close the gap to Buscail and Juarez. It was the first time someone has worked with me on the bike over here and it was a pleasant change. It developed into a two-up time trial against the Reus Ploms pair and we closed the gap from 40 secs to around 10-15 secs on the out and back 20k loop - a great atmosphere created by the dozens of roadside cafe drinkers and local farmers ringing their cowbells.

We ran out of ks on the bike though, and perhaps then a bit wary of each other, started the final 2,75k up and down run around 20 secs down. Climbing that hill again was sore but i steadily dug out a 25 second advantage to nab the final podium spot. The gap came down slightly to 2nd placed Juarez but Buscail again showed his class by running 27 secs faster than my next fastest run split for his 2nd consecutive win and the overall series.

Full results for the Catalan series available here.

First Spanish podium at the scene of Redgraves Olympic triumph

1992 and Steve Redgrave grabs his 3rd Olympic rowing Gold.

Fast forward 13 years and Steven MacGregor grabs 3rd at the Banyoles standard duathlon.

World apart? of course!! ;) but the place was the same - the lovely Banyoles lake north-west of Girona, and it makes for a snappy introduction.

Seriously though, happy with the race. I was getting like Glasgow Celtic and Champions League points away from home - so many times close to a podium finish in the Basque Country and then in Catalonia, so good to establish my name a bit over here, especially with so many good duathletes around.

So, it was my 3rd Duathlon in the Catalan series and the first without carrying a slight cold, although i was still very heavy after extertions from Powerman Holland. Allied to the fact that i did 5 hours biking and running Friday and Saturday meant i got dropped early in the first 10k run - but i still managed to squeeze out a 31:47 to go into the bike in 5th place. My brother Stuart was over training and his shout to wait on bikers in 6th and 7th 20 seconds back rather than pursuing a lone rider in 4th 30 seconds ahead was key. I caught my breath and the 3 of us then had the good fortune of drafting behind a bus, hitting nearly 40mph to catch duathletes in 3rd and 4th. The lazy biker attitude of Catalan duathlons was again to the fore (although not as bad as previous weeks) although it still meant that the lead duo sailed off into the sunset on the testing and undulating 44k bike loop.

So, in effect the race came down to my group of 5 fighting for 3rd place. I didn't waste my breath shouting at the hangers on and refused to do the lions share of the work - just as much as the next guy. We then hit a sharp climb 10k from the finish (around 7% and 3k) and i attacked - 2 were dropped and the remaining 3 of us wheeled around until transition. I lost 10 seconds to one of the Juarez brothers who didn't have to change shoes and exited in joint 4th place. However, the strength from Holland came through and i quickly moved into 3rd place, running low 16 mins for the final twisting 5k.

Happy with that - more so that the benefits of training starting to show that didn't seem evident in Holland. Shame the Catalan series is coming to a close just as i'm finding some form - last one in the series the Sant Joan sprint this Saturday.