Stage 2. Portumna To Kilrush164 Kms. Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post Sean Kelly Team Belgium) 4.54.18

Gediminas Bagdonas, An Post Sean Kelly Team Wins Stage 2 From Portumna To Kilrush

Stage 3. Kilrush To Castleisland 175 Kms. Nikaloy Mihaylov (France AVC Aix en Provence) 4.13.50

Nikolya Mihaylov France AVC Aix en Provence Takes Stage 3 From Kilrush To Castleisland

 

IRELAND Skoda 1. Paul Griffin 2. Conor Dunne 3. Sean Downey 4. Peter Hawkins 5. Felix English Manager: Neil Martin.	IRELAND Development 6. Philip Bremmer 7. Charles Prendergast 8. Stephen Clancy 9. Owen Cummins 10. A.N.Other Manager: Noel McGlynn
NEW ZEALAND 11. Aaron Gate 12. Shane Archbold 13. Marc Ryan 14. Cameron Karwowski 15. Myron Simpson Manager: Stephen Connell	ASIA(PRO) Giant Kenda Cycling Team 16. David McCann 17. Marytn Irvine 18. Alex Coutts 19. Chang Wei Kei 20. Wang Yin Chin Manager: Cormac McCann
AUSTRALIA(PRO) Drapac Cycling 21. Stuart Shaw 22. Adam Semple 23. Rhys Pollock 24. Floris Goesinnen 25. Lachlann Norris Manager: Agostino Giramondo	BELGIUM(PRO) An Post Sean Kelly 26. Sam Bennett 27. Mark Cassidy 28. Mark McNally 29. Ronan McLaughlin 30. Gediminas Bogdonas Manager: Kurt Bogaerts
FRANCE AVC Aix en Provence 31. Erwan Brenterch 32. Nickolay Mihaylov 33. Bob Rodriguez 34. Roman Ramier 35. Remi Sarreboubee Manager: Eric Drubay	GERMANY(PRO) Thuringer Energie 36. Jakob Steigmiller 37. Johannes Kahra 38. Bastian Burgel 39. Ralf Matzka 40. Marcel Barth Manager: Jens Lang
GREECE(PRO) KTM – Murcia 41. Jose Carrasco 42. Hector Gonzalez Baeza 43. Salvador Guardiola 44. Javier Benitez Pomares 45. Jaume Rovira Pous Manager: Inaki Urroz Sanchez	ITALY(PRO) D’Angelo & D’Antenucci Nippo 46. Danilo Andrenacci 47. Henry Frusto 48. Bernardo Riccio 49. Kohei Uchima 50. Alexander Zhdanov Manager: Alberto Elli
UKRAINE(PRO) ISD – Lampre Continental 51. Yuriy Agarkov 52. Oleksander Martynenko 53. Anatoliy Pakhtusov 54. Oleksandr Sheydyk 55. Maksym Vasyliev Manager: Myrza Mykola	USA(PRO) Wonderful Pistachios 56. Neil Coleman 57. Menso De Jong 58. Collin Samaan 59. Tom Faiers 60. Tim Farnham Manager: Robert Coble
BRITAIN(PRO) Rapha Condor Sharp 61. Dean Windsor 62. Ben Greenwood 63. Casey Munro 64. Dean Downing 65. James McCallum Manager: Mathew Southam	BRITAIN(PRO) Sigma Sport Specialized 66. Simon Richardson 67. Wouter Sybrandy 68. Thomas Copeland 69. James Williamson 70. Steven Lampier Manager: Sid Barras
BRITAIN(PRO) Motorpoint 71. Pete Williams 72. James Sampson 73. Marcin Bialoblocki 74. Will Bjergfelt 75. Tobyn Horton Manager: Chris Truett	BRITAIN Forme Procycliste San Lamere 76. Robert Orr 77. Dexter Gardias 78. Jack Adams 79. Will Fox 80. Samuel Parker Manager: Tom Kirk
BRITAIN Scienceinsport.com 81. Alistair Rutherford 82. Tim Lawson 83. Paul Oldham 84. Ian Field 85. Adam Yates Manager: Greg Newton	ISLE OF MAN 86. Graeme Hatcher 87. Timothy Kennaugh 88. Aaron Livsey 89. Christian Varley 90. Andrew Roche Manager: Peter Kay
CARLOW Dan Morrissey Better Build 91. Sean Lacey 92. Michael O’Reilly 93. Michael Fitzgerald 94. Tim Barry 95. Joe Fenlon Manager: Richard Cahill	CORK County 96. Bryan Long 97. Will Curtin 98. Dave Kenneally 99. Eddie Barry 100. Michael Butler Manager: Gerald Long
CORK Kanturk 101. Richard Hooton 102. Simon Ryan 103. Owen Ryan 104. Alan Loftus 105. Jean Michel Lamy Manager: Dan Curtin	DONEGAL LK Bikes 106. Sean McFadden 107. Sean Stewart 108. Rory Devlin 109. Damien Lagan 110. John Dempsey Manager: Michael Black
DONEGAL Sportactive/ Engraveit/An Chuirt Hotel 111. Paidi O’Brien 112. Ryan Sherlock 113. Stephen Halpin 114. Aidan Crowley 115. Stephen Gallagher Manager: Philip Finegan	DUBLIN Barnardos 116. Shane Hurley 117. Graham Hurley 118. Michael Barry 119. Michael Duffy 120. Odhran Connors Manager: Karl Walsh
DUBLIN Eurocycles 121. Conor Murphy 122. Adam Armstrong 123. Thomas Martin 124. Paul Mulligan 125. Frazer Duncan Manager: Urban Monks	DUBLIN South Dublin Zilcom 126. Michael Reddin 127. Anthony Doyle 128. Art McManus 129. Mark Gill 130. James Davenport Manager: John Paul Lyons
DUBLIN Stevens Cyclelogical 131. Dave Cassidy 132. Pat Fitzpatrick 133. William McCabe 134. Adrian Hedderman 135. Cathal Miller Manager: Gerry Harte	DUBLIN Orwell 136. Brian Aherne 137. Stephen Surdival 138. A.N.Other 139. A.N.Other 140. Dave McLoughlin Manager: Ger McNamara
DUBLIN UCD 141. Anthony Walsh 142. Colm Cassidy 143. Mike Brookfield 144. Fergus Ryan 145. Wes Murphy Manager: Ian Richardson	GALWAY Black Rose Racing 146. Aidan Reade 147. Eoghan Considine 148. Keith Fox 149. Colm Bracken 150. Conor O’Shea Manager: Declan O’Loughlin
KILDARE Newbridge 151. Richard Malone 152. Mike Storan 153. Enda Connelly 154. Robin Kelly 155. Derek Cunningham Manager: John Malone	KILDARE Murphy Surveys 156. John Lynch 157. Steve Franzoni 158. Alan Burke 158. Brian Geraghty 160. John Gargan Manager: Liam Walker
MAYO Western Edge Medical Communications 161. David Brennan 162. Ciaran Clarke 163. Patrick Clarke 164. Christian Coyle 165. Bernard Twomey Manager: John Brennan	MEATH Dectek 166. Stephen O’Sullivan 167. Neil Delahaye 168. Tim O’Regan 169. Mark Dowling 170. Fiachra O’Muire Manager: Philip Cassidy
MEATH 53 Degrees North Optimun Nuitrition 171. Ciaran Hallinan 172. Simon Kelly 173. Michael McCarthy 174. Eugene Moriarty 175. Andrew Meehan Manager: John Wall	MEATH Stamullen M. Donnelly 176. John Sower 177. Derek Finnegan 178. Declan Byrne 179. Tony Brady 180. James McMaster Manager: James Gough
WATERFORD Comeragh 181. Thomas Lavery 182. David O'Loughlin 183. Martin Cullinane 184. Enda Donnelly 185. Damien Travers Manager: Derek Webb

 

Ben Greenwood Rapha Condor Sharp Imperssions Of The Rás From His Blog

Men of the Ras
Posted on 6/11/2011 8:55:27 PM

If you like wind and rain, Ireland is the place to be

Some races are more than just a bike race. While many of them seem to be just the same thing but in a different country with slightly different hotels, there are some races which stand out from the crowd and have a unique feel and quality that makes them memorable and special. One such event is the Irish race the An Post Rás, which is unlike any other in the world. And, to be honest, I don’t think many riders could handle more than one race like the Rás a year - it either makes you or breaks you.

For those of you who don’t know much about the Rás, here’s a brief introduction. It’s 8 day- long UCI 2.2 category event and takes place in the last week of May in the Republic of Ireland. The stages range from 130km to 180km with an average of around 160km a day. The field is a mix of foreign UCI Continental teams, national teams, and Irish county teams with a maximum of 5 riders per team.

It all sounds like a normal race, so what makes it so special?

Well, firstly there’s the racing which can only be described as unpredictable and completely bonkers. The main problem for the pro teams is they only have 5 riders which makes defending the yellow jersey extremely difficult. Unless they are confident that the rider they have in the yellow jersey is stronger than everyone else, then most teams don’t even bother trying to keep it. With only 4 guys to ride on the front, if you get the jersey in the first few days then the best plan is to try and lose it and get it back at a later date.

Most riders who have ridden the Rás before don’t even think of it as a stage race. It’s more eight one-day races in a row with an overall classification at the end. That’s the way you have to ride it, because every day is the same. As soon as the flag drops the attacks start, and they usually keep going until the stage ends. This is partly down to the ‘County riders’ who always want to show well on their home roads. And there’s a race within a race for the County rider individual and team GC and the best County rider on the stage. This results in some strange tactics as the Irish teams battle with each other while the bigger teams try to win the race proper.

Another big part of the craziness of the Rás is the terrain. It’s always rolling…never too mountainous but also never totally flat. This means that there’s always a good place to launch an attack and as the hills aren’t too serious, most riders in the bunch are able to put in a move. Typically a Rás break can be 15-20 riders as group of two and three ride away and then eventually join up to form a good sized group. If all the big teams have a rider there then the move is likely to never be seen again, gaining huge time in the process. This happens day after day until a few riders who have made the break each day are left to fight out the overall.

The trouble is that it’s impossible to predict where and when the big GC breaks will go. It’s not like the Tour de France where everything is formulaic and it’s easy to predict when a bunch sprint will occur or when the big favourites will make their attack. In the Rás the break normally goes on the most unremarkable sections of road. A moment’s inattention or an untimely mechanical and a GC favourite can lose minutes and the chance of victory is over.

The other thing that sets the Rás apart is its history. It’s an epic race with many epic stories and it’s captured the imagination of the Irish people. If you are a cyclist and go to Ireland, the first thing people will ask you is if you have ridden the Rás. There’s always county riders at the Rás for whom their lifelong goal is to finish the race and become a ‘Man of the Rás’.

The Rás isn’t just a race, it’s also a social event. The highlight of which is the ‘night stages’. This is where the team staff and members of the organisation can share a few pints and talk about the day’s events. It’s not uncommon for some of the riders to join in and have a drink or two. One of my old team-mates Mark Lovatt was well known for liking a drink at the Rás. He personal best was 13 pints of Guinness the night before a stage. How he even started the stage never mind finished it, I’m not sure. I was told this year that three pints was the perfect amount to get optimum recovery but I wasn’t too keen to try it in case it just made me feel bad in the morning.

This year in the Rapha Condor Sharp team we had three riders who were doing the Rás for the first time. They had heard the term ‘Men of the Rás’ but didn’t understand what it meant. They all thought it was just another weeklong stage race, and you don’t normally get a special moniker for finishing them.

Stage one saw the team take the stage win and yellow jersey thanks to Dean Downing, following a fantastic leadout by James McCallum and Dean Windsor. The race got stopped temporarily with seven km to go due to a huge crash in the bunch. It was at this point the new Rás boys started to realise this race didn’t follow the usual script. Any doubts they had were extinguished on stage 2 when we rode into a gale force headwind all day. The stage winner averaged 33km/h in what was one of the slowest Rás stages ever. The word epic was used both during and after the stage by the riders. If you’re not tough then don’t come to the Rás.

As the days went on and attack after attack was launched and brought back, two of our new boys started talking about wanting to finish the Rás. Not because they were hating the race, quite the contrary; it was because they couldn’t call themselves ‘men of the Rás’ until they finished the last stage. Meanwhile the other new boy had decided this was the most ridiculous and insane race he had ever done and was counting down the hours until he could fly home.

After the race every finisher gets a Rás medal. As a team we’re used to winning races so normally merely finishing a race doesn’t get given much thought. So getting a medal for finishing isn’t something that is usually treasured or taken seriously. But when we were talking about whether we would hang around after the finish to get our medals, the new boys were adamant that we would be going up to the podium. ‘We’ve suffered for eight days to become men of the Rás’ they said, ‘and we want our medals to prove it’

As Rás legend and two-time winner Phil Cassidy said to me when I told him it was my fifth Rás, ‘The first ten are hard, after that they start getting easier’

Maybe in six years time I’ll be writing a blog saying how easy the Rás is, but for now all I can say is what an epic race it is…and that I can’t wait for next year.

So if you meet someone who says he’s a man of the Rás, give him some respect, he deserves it…

Thanks for reading,

Benji

2011 Race Technical Guide

An Post Rás 2011 Race Officials Manual

Photographs © Copyright www.rástailteann.com