With four riders within striking distance of Kristian House’s yellow jersey, including one rider on exactly the same time, today’s penultimate stage of the FBD Insurance Rás had the potential of being yet another day of upheaval in the general classification of the race. However despite the efforts of riders such as David O’Loughlin (Ireland Grant Thornton) and Tommy Evans (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations), fourth and fifth overall, plus a break of riders who were clear for most of the 168 kilometre stage from Westport to Clara, the day ended in a big bunch sprint.

First to the line was Bartlomiej Matysiak (Poland Legia Bazylisek), the under 23 classification leader sprinting in a bike length clear of yesterday’s stage victor Ciaran Power (Eireann Dan Morrissey) and his own team-mate Lukasz Modzelewski. Race leader Kristian House was ninth and with his closest challenger Danny Pate – who started the day level on time but separated by stage placings - taking16th, the Britain Recycling.co.uk rider earned a small buffer which could prove crucial if the two finish together tomorrow.

Third-placed Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest), O’Loughlin and Evans also came home in the same time and remain 12, 28 and 43 seconds back respectively. With the final stage of the race taking place tomorrow, time is running out for them to deprive House of his yellow jersey.

“It was a hard day for me and the team,” said the race leader at the finish. “The guys did very well, they were on the front from the word go, just controlling things for me so hats off to them. They did all the work early on and then towards the end, when the attacks start coming, it is down to me.”

The team have another big day in the saddle tomorrow. “It is very tight…there is not even a second in it,” House said. “Myself and Danny Pate are on the same time. There is another rider 12 seconds behind and then another 21 seconds back, so it is still up for grabs. But we will do our best to hold onto it.”

Team manager John Herety was pleased with how things went. “I am happy with today, really. The wind direction worked in our favour; as soon as we got up this morning, we turned on the television and saw the wind direction. With big, open roads all day it is quite easy to control it, frankly. We committed ourselves straight from the start, it was prearranged that we would let a little break go away to deter other riders. Every time we started to bring them back we would ease off a little bit. Things were fine, apart from a couple of flurries in the middle of the race, around the feed zone – which is a bit naughty, actually.”

“O’Loughlin and Evans were attacking a lot in the last ten kilometres. We basically saved Chris Newton for the finale, we used all our other riders first of all and then we used Chris at the end just to cover the serious threats to the GC in the finale. It worked out well. The Poles were also riding today, they wanted the stage win so that worked out in our favour.”

Power went close to taking his third stage win, the Éireann Dan Morrissey rider finishing second to Matysiak. “I think I was just missing a bit of racing, I didn’t have the speed that I needed to come around him at the end,” he stated. “I was in the perfect position, but he won it well in the end.”

“I felt fantastic all day, I didn’t have to do anything so I just took it easy. I didn’t even hit the wind once. It was great, I felt really, really good but just didn’t have the speed in the sprint. I am definitely ending the race stronger than I started. I am looking forward to tomorrow, I will give it a good lash. I am up there for the King of the Mountains, the points, and the stage win, so you never know!”

Today’s stage took place on a flat route and pushed along by a strong tailwind, the riders covered the stage at an average speed of 46 kilometres per hour. A break of nine riders went clear at the start and while Brad Fairall (Canada Symmetrics), Fabian Brzezinski (Germany Stevens), Michael Fitzgerald (Cork Murray Ford Develops.) and John Mason (Meath MyHome.ie/Cycleways) dropped back along the way, Roger Aiken (Ireland Grant Thornton), Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers Caravel), Jehudi Schoonacker (Ireland M. Donnelly Sean Kelly), Brandon Crichton (Canada Symmetrics) and Tim Barry (Éireann Dan Morrissey) persisted and were only caught inside the final ten kilometres. And, despite the efforts of several riders to go clear, including some of the GC contenders, the stage victory was decided in a big bunch sprint.

Along with Evans and O’Loughlin, Paul Healion (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) was one of the most aggressive riders in the finale. “I attacked quite a few times,” he said. “I got across to the break as they were being pulled back and I went again with that Slovakian guy, the rider on the Norway Sparebanken Vest team [Martin Prazdnovsky]. He was only taking small turns at the front. If we had worked well together I think we could have stayed away, because Newton was pretty knackered. We were caught with about a kilometre to go.”

“I actually wasn’t feeling great at the start. I had stomach trouble last night and this morning but I got through it okay. It was fairly fast, the Polish guys were working with Recycling.co.uk, not sure why they were doing that. The tailwind made things hard to get away, and so did the two teams chasing.”

“The plan tomorrow is that we will try to get the stage. We will also watch Simon [Kelly, 7th overall] too, we were doing that today…just making sure he was okay for food, keeping him up in the top ten all the time, etc. If we get a top ten overall it would be fantastic for the team in its first year.”

Britain Recycling.co.uk manager John Herety knows his team also has to be vigilant on the final stage. “As regards tomorrow, we will have a little look at it this evening. If it comes to a bunch sprint, I am confident that Kristian can do it [be placed highly enough to keep the jersey]. There is no major need to get a gap before then…okay, yes, I would love it but there is no need to, really. It is not down to us, it is up to them to take it away from us. We will have extended it a little bit points-wise today, in terms of yellow being decided on accumulated placings on the stages.  We have increased that, so as long as Kristian finishes close to Pate tomorrow it should be fine…he only has to follow him.”

“I believe it is a tough day tomorrow, I have heard the stage is quite hard so we will see. I have heard the finishing circuit is difficult as well. We have to watch all of the riders who are close – everyone within a minute is a threat, really. Although people are getting tired now, you can see that. It is actually becoming, in some ways, a little bit easier to control because of that. But anything can happen – it is the Rás!”

How it happened:

The penultimate stage of the FBD Insurance Rás took the 119 starters 168 mainly flat kilometres from Westport to Clara. The weather was clear and bright, with temperatures the highest all week, at a still-unseasonably cool 16 degrees. This was to increase to 18 degrees later in the day.

Five riders attacked very soon after the start and were then joined by four others. Roger Aiken (Ireland Grant Thornton), Peter McDonald (Australia FRF Couriers Caravel), Jehudi Schoonacker (Ireland M. Donnelly Sean Kelly), Brandon Crichton (Canada Symmetrics), Brad Fairall (Canada Symmetrics), Fabian Brzezinski (Germany Stevens), Michael Fitzgerald (Cork Murray Ford Develops.), John Mason (Meath MyHome.ie/Cycleways) and Tim Barry (Éireann Dan Morrissey) worked well together and, pushed along by a strong tailwind, they had built a 45 second gap after 40 minutes of racing. This jumped to 1 minute and 21 seconds after 50 kilometres, by which time Brzezinski had dropped back.

Just under ten kilometres later Roger Aiken took the Midwest Radio Prime in Ballyhaunis. Back in the bunch, the Britain Recycling.co.uk team of race leader Kristian House were riding tempo, assisted by the Poland Legia Bazylisek team. Their cooperation meant that the break was just 43 seconds ahead  going through Castlerea, 80 kilometres after the start, and the subsequent injection of pace up front saw Michael Fitzgerald (Cork Murray Ford) and John Mason (MyHome.ie Cycleways) being dropped.  Brad Fairall (Canada Symmetrics) also lost contact soon afterwards, but the gap went up to 1 minute and 15 seconds.

After two hours of racing the riders had covered 96.3 kilometres, indicating an average speed of just over 48 kilometres per hour. The break’s advantage was fluctuating quite a bit, dropping to 40 seconds and then going up to a maximum of 1 minute 31 seconds approximately 35 kilometres from the end of the stage. It was clear that the bunch was controlling things, the Britain Recycling.co.uk and Poland Legia Bazylisek teams happy to leave the group out front to discourage other attackers, but also limiting their gains so they could be reeled in when necessary.

The tailwind became a crosswind at times during the stage and the strength of the gusts had some riders going off the road. They stayed upright, but the sidewinds made things dangerous in the bunch. 

At the 20 kilometre to go point the leaders had 1 minute and 17 seconds. Shortly afterwards, previous race leader Tommy Evans attacked hard and opened up a small lead. He rode strongly to try to get away, motivated by the thoughts of taking back some of his 38 second deficit from the yellow jersey, but he was reeled in by the Britain Recycling and Poland Legia Bazylisek-led bunch.

David O’Loughlin (Ireland Grant Thornton) then countered hard on the right hand side of the road. He started the day fourth overall, 21 seconds in arrears and like Evans was keen to chase yellow. However he was marked by the green jersey Morten Hegreberg and while the Norway Sparebanken Vest rider was third overall and was also looking to make up time, he wouldn’t come through and take a turn. O’Loughlin was frustrated with this.

Once they were brought back, Evans went again. He got a gap, was brought back, then tried again a minute or two later. Paul Healion (Ireland Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) also tried to get clear, as did O’Loughlin once more, but each of these efforts were frustrated by the strong tailwind which helped the bunch move along at a very rapid speed. The marking by the two pace-setting teams also made it difficult, with 2005 race winner Chris Newton (Britain Recycling.co.uk) one of those digging deep to keep things under control.

The net effect of these accelerations was that the bunch was getting closer and closer to the break. With ten kilometres to go the gap was just 18 seconds and riders out front began to sit up. Roger Aiken and Peter McDonald persisted, with the latter then going clear by himself. He rode strongly but was eventually caught with four kilometres to go.

Former race leader Mike Friedman punctured shortly after this point, unfortunately suffering the mishap outside the 3 kilometre to go safe-haven. The unlucky USA TIAA-CREF rider would trail in 33 seconds back and slip from ninth to eleventh as a result.

Several riders then tried to go clear closer to the line, including Healion, but everything was together just before the sprint. Quickest was the under 23 classification leader Bartlomiej Matysiak (Poland Legia Bazylisek) who galloped home, arms aloft, about a length clear of double stage winner and mountains jersey leader Ciaran Power (Eireann Dan Morrissey). Matysiak’s team-mate Lukasz Modzelewski was third, with Joshua Marden (Australia FRF Couriers Caravel), Benjamin Hill (Germany Stevens) and  Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) filling the other places in the top six. Beside Power, Irish riders Morgan Fox (Ireland Murphy & Gunn/Newlyn Group, 8th) and Mehall Fitzgerald (MyHome.ie/Cycleways, 10th) also finished in the top ten.

Somewhat crucially, race leader Kristian House sprinted in ninth, seven places higher than Danny Pate’s 16th. They had started the stage level on time and separated only by countback so while House didn’t gain any time today, he has the small buffer of stage placings if it comes down to a sprint tomorrow.

However he and his team will likely have to work very hard on the final 155 kilometre stage to Skerries. Four category 3 climbs and some hard, rolling roads will give Pate, Hegreberg, O’Loughlin and Evans hope that they can get clear and chase yellow; with Britain Recycling.co.uk determined to defend, it should be a very exciting finale to the race.

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