Many ultimately unsuccessful breakaway attempts occurred in the stage's first hour, including defending mountains champion Matt Wilson topping the first category three climb in first position. The first escapee to stay away for any amount of time was MTN's Jay Thomson, who was the first over Mount Leinster and Coppanagh, putting him second in the King of the Mountains standings at the end of the day (as Wilson took maximum points from the peloton on those climbs). Thomson badly bonked on the day's last climb, and wound up being passed by escapees from the main peloton. First to pass him by was Philip Lavery of the Irish National Team, and then came the rest of the 23-man group, one that included numerous big names such as Lance Armstrong, Stuart O'Grady, and defending Tour of Ireland champion Marco Pinotti. With Mark Cavendish stuck in the peloton 2' 12 behind the leaders, the stage win was wide open. After numerous attacks and counterattacks Russell Downing was the man to time his sprint just right, getting to the line a second ahead of seven other riders. Armstrong, O'Grady, and twelve others finished 16 seconds back. Time bonuses won at the finish line and in intermediate sprints meant the first General Classification was not the same as the Stage 1 result.