RESULTS: Adrien Dailly and Cecile Ravanel win EWS Ireland

Race day dawned in Ireland, and brought with it a welcome sight: no rain! That isn't to say that the conditions were much easier than the previous day of H2O-saturated practice, the morning stages were still very wet and the riders had their hands full just keeping it upright - but this is racing and the clock accepts no excuses. Adrien Dailly started the day out as he meant to go on, with a stage win over Sam Hill and Jerome Clementz. Local favorite and previous two-time winner here Greg Callaghan looked strong early on but a couple of mishaps would see him slide down the leaderboard as the first half of the day concluded.

Greg on the legendary stage three, enjoying a little local support.

In the women's, Cecile Ravanel crashed on stage one but STILL pulled out the win, and it was to be a sign of things to come. 4 stage wins out of 4 before the lunch break, Cecile built a gap of over 25 seconds over Katy Winton who was otherwise reveling in the treacherous conditions. Isabeau Courdurier was going well until a crash on stage 3 saw her slip out of contention.

Always a crazy crowd here in Ireland.

Back with the men, just before lunch Sam Hill pulled out a win on stage four to climb back to within three seconds of leader Dailly. A quick break to refuel and regroup, and with just two stages left to contest, the top-5 were only separated by 22 seconds. We would later learn that Sam Hill had a flat on stage three which nearly cost him the race - he plugged the tire on the liaison but the plug then ruptured his tube. In the true spirit of enduro, Martin Maes stepped up and lent Sam a fresh tube so he could continue his race.

After the break, Adrien Dailly managed to make himself a bit more comfortable up front by once again winning a stage. That left him with just short of 8 seconds of buffer to Sam Hill in second, and a further 7 to Martin Maes in third, and one stage to go. Could Hill pull off a miracle - 8 seconds is a lot, but anything could still happen...

Katy Winton on Stage 6, the final test of the race.

In the women's, there was a lot less suspense, with Cecile Ravanel continuing her total stage domination approach and holding a commanding 28 second advantage. Sure enough, she would take stage 6 as well, making it another perfect race for her. Behind Cecile, it was business as unusual with Katy Winton in 2nd and Andreane Lanthier Nadeau is 3rd! The tricky conditions here shook things up a bit on the podium, with Isabeau not managing to finish better than 7th in the end.

Cecile flying!

And so, as it has so many times before, it would all boil down to a few tense minutes of staring at the finish line and the timing boards. Jesse Melamed took the hot seat for quite some time, as we all waited with bated breath. And then the word came down the hill...Dailly crashed! What would it mean? How much time did he lose? In the end, not enough...Hill would beat him by 2 seconds and claim second on the stage behind a charging Melamed, but the young Frenchman would seal another EWS race win. Callaghan went on to finish the race in 10th, which sees him leave his native Ireland with the series lead by the slimmest of margins. Halfway through the season, and just 60 points separate the top-3 men!

Other notables: Jerome Clementz was holding 4th place until a crash at the top of stage 6 saw him slide down to 7th. Melamed got off to a mellow start, but kept improving as the race went on. Surely just a raincheck, that elusive first win. Rude lamented his dry tire gamble, but 5th place just 30 seconds back will encourage him in these conditions. Ex-team mate Jared Graves had a weird day, one stage win but also a couple of places in the 20s. Robin Wallner continues his steady climb in the ranks with a super solid and consistent 6th place here today.