On the way back to the hotel after the first day of the tour of Ireland. I'm sat here in the car with some of the lads, 196km done, time for a Coke, Rego, baguette and exchange of race tales, followed by the usual car journey-induced nap.

Pretty good day out for most of us at the Halfords camp. We had five in the second group on the road, which considering the terrain in the last 40k and the class of riders here, was alright. Saying that, Russ [Downing] proved his class today by taking the stage and the yellow...top ride by a fellow Brit.

Even managed a good conversation with Lance today. I thought I'd ask him if he'd ever been to Wales: turns out he hasn't. So I thought I'd educate him a bit. He now knows all about the national dish, the capital city and favourite pastimes. He seemed quite intrigued. I also found out that one of his favourite races was the Leeds Classic. Well, he spent a while talking about it, so I assume he liked it...

So, another big day tomorrow. We'll be looking for the moves again on the roads to Killarney.

As Mr Armstrong says, 'be safe'.

Rob