It almost seemed unfair when the world No. 1 team ganged up on an untested youngster in Thursday’s hilly second stage at the Tour of Ireland.

But Stijn Vandenbergh, Unibet.com’s unheralded neo-pro, proved he’s savvier than his 23 years when he fended off a collective effort by Team CSC to keep his yellow jersey dreams alive in the 166km run from Clonakilty to Killarney along Ireland’s stunning southwest coast.

That’s not to say there weren’t some dicey moments for Vandenbergh, who surprised the favorites in Wednesday’s opener into Cork and take a huge 13-minute head start on all but nine rivals in the Irish tour’s revival.

Vandenbergh was already under pressure from an all-out CSC assault when he punctured in critical moment in the hectic opening 50km of the windy stage.

Only hard work from Unibet.com teammates Pieter Jacobs and Luis Pasamontes helped tow him back to the front group just ahead of the first of the day’s five rated climbs.

From there, Vandenbergh was able to stay on the wheel and keep his slender 20-second grip on the leader’s jersey to second-place Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC).

“I punctured and I was a little nervous because I knew the climbs were coming, but Pieter and Luis really saved the day for me,” said Vandenbergh, who rolled across the line 19th safely with the lead group of 49 riders. “CSC had the whole team at the front and they brought back to the wheel. It was a hard day but we made it.”

It wasn’t a complete loss for Team CSC, however, as Dane Matti Breschel shot his way to the stage victory and Ljungqvist bounced ahead of Aaron Olson (T-Mobile) into second place with time bonuses.

Pasamontes helped tow the boss back into the field and then went to work patrolling the front of the field.

Photo: Graham Watson

Unlike Wednesday’s stage that saw a 10-man breakaway pull clear to all but sew up the overall, Thursday’s much more difficult stage didn’t see a real breakaway make any major ground on CSC’s wary watch.

Kristan House (Navigators Insurance) led the way over the day’s main hurdle at the Cat. 1 Healy Pass at 103km and later sprinted to fifth in the stage in a fine day for the Brit on the American team.

The peloton fractured early under the pace and only 50 riders witnessing Breschel’s winning sprint with the second half of the bunch coming through 26 minutes back.

Vandenbergh held his own and survived a tough day in yellow.

Photo: Graham Watson

“It was a tough day, especially in the first 50km. There were a lot of false flats, headwinds and the group split,” said Tom Schuler, sport director at Colavita Sutter Home. “It was a lot harder today than people realized.”

Brian Keanelly (Irish national team) gave it a shove after cresting the day’s final climb at the Cat. 2 Molls Gap with 23km to go before CSC kept drilling it at the front with the likes of Andy and Frank Schleck, stagiaire Lasse Bøchman and Michael Blaudzun taking pulls.

Danny Pate (Slipstream) made a daring run at solo victory with 10km to go but was reeled in with about 3km to go to set up the mass gallop.

Slipstream's Lewis and Dugan

Photo: Graham Watson

After early efforts to dislodge Vandenbergh fell short, Team CSC turned its attention to winning the stage. CSC threw its collective weight behind Breschel, a former model in New York City who opted for life in the bicycle fast lane.

Breschel, winner at a stage at the Tour of Denmark earlier this month, fended off an early sprint by Borut Bozic (LPR) to win easily ahead of the highly touted Edvald Boasson Hagen (Maxbo-Bianchi) and Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile), who came through third.

“We tried today on the hard climbs to try to eliminate the leader, but the Unibet guys are motivated and (Vandenbergh) showed he’s strong,” Breschel said. “Then we decided to go for the sprint. We knew it was a tricky sprint and the LPR guy opened up the sprint with 400 meters. I chose the right moment and went full gas with 150 meters to go. It’s my second victory of the season, so I am very happy.”

Vandenbergh seemed relieved at the finish line. He and his Unibet.com teammates had scrawled the numbers of the nine riders who were in Wednesday’s breakaway on their top tubes so they wouldn’t get caught out by surprise.

The Belgian knows if he can survive the remaining three sprint-friendly stages, the Irish tour is his.

“These were the two hardest stages, so now I am more confident I can make it to Dublin,” Vandenbergh said. “My legs actually felt better today than they did on Wednesday. I’m feeling good about my chances.”

No pints until Dublin, though Vandenbergh admitted he did treat himself to one glass of the “black stuff” after his win in Cork.

“If I make it to Dublin in the yellow jersey, I will drink a few Guinness to celebrate,” he said.

There would be no better way to celebrate the Tour of Ireland.

RACE NOTESRabobank has its development team here for the Irish tour, but there’s one rider who is turning heads. Sven Nys, the Belgian cyclo-cross king, is at the Irish tour to stretch his legs ahead of the winter racing season.

“I’m here to get some racing miles. If I don’t start racing now and build up my strength, you really can’t expect to be competitive in the winter,” he said before the start.Tomas Ziegler (T-Mobile) didn’t start; Morgan Fox (Murphy & Brown), Dermot Nally (Irish team), Graham Briggs (Recycling) and Richard Wilkinson (Plowman) didn’t finish – 100 riders remain.Breschel leads the points category with Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) leading the mountain’s jersey.

Results Stage 2
1. Matti Breschel (Dk), CSC 3:57:07 (42.5kph)
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (N), Maxbo Bianchi
3. Bernhard Eisel (A), T-Mobile
4. Borut Bozic (Slo), LPR
5. Kristian House (GB), Navigators Insurance
6. Moises Aldape Chaves (Mex), Ceramica Panaria
7. Daniel Lloyd (GB), DFL-cyclingnews-Litespeed
8. Martijn Maaskant (Nl), Rabobank
9. Matteo Priamo (I), Ceramica Panaria
10. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr), Navigators Insurance
Overall
1. Stijn Vandenberg (B), Unibet 7:58:57
2. Marcus Ljungqvist (S), CSC, at 0:20
3. Aaron Olson (USA), T-Mobile, at 0:21
4. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus), South Australia-AIS, at 0:24
5. Gabriel Rasch (N), Maxbo Bianchi, at 0:25
6. Pieter Jacobs (B), Unibet, at 0:27
7. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr), Navigators Insurance, at 0:28
8. Craig Lewis (USA), Slipstream, at 0:28
9. Glenn Bak (Dk), Murphy & Gunn, at 0:43
10. Matti Breschel (Dk), CSC, at 13:15FullResults.