An Post-Sean Kelly’s Andrew Fenn

Stage 4

Welshpool – Caerphilly 114miles

The An Post-Sean Kelly team has set out its stall in the Tour of Britain, taking all three sprint primes on today’s hilly stage in Wales in a clear effort to try and wrap up overall victory in that competition.

Pieter Ghyllebert went on the attack again today for the third stage in a row, pulling clear in a three-man group – with former British national champion Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp) and Kiwi Jack Bauer (Endura Racing) – that at one point had built a lead of almost six minutes.

Ghyllebert, who was already wearing the sprints leaders’ jersey, repeated his feat of stage 1 taking all three primes today.

Back in the peloton his team mate Andrew Fenn was taking fourth place in those sprints in a bid to mop up the minor points on offer for those closest to Ghyllebert in the classification.

However, Fenn paid for those efforts at the end of the stage, finding himself the wrong side of a split in what was left the peloton when it reached the finish in Caerphilly, losing 20 seconds.

He dropped from 6^th to 14^th on GC. Had he not lost that time, he would now be joint third overall just 14 seconds off the yellow jersey.

World champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin Cervelo), who won two stages in this year’s Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey for a week, took the stage win today, easily sprinting in at the head of the 22-strong lead group.

Lars Boom (Rabobank) maintains his overall lead after taking second on today’s stage. However, with five more stages still to come, including a time trial, the race is far from over.

Sky’s Geraint Thomas is loitering with intent in second place on GC.

Today’s stage took in some of the hardest climbs of the race, with a third category and two first category ascents to be negotiated. The terrain took its toll, with the 91-man field splitting in pieces as large time gaps emerged.

Ronan McLaughlin (An Post-Sean Kelly) was the best of the three Irishmen in the race, coming home in the group with Fenn just 20 seconds down. National road race and time trial champion Matt Brammeier (HTC-Highroad) made slightly harder work of it, losing 2:11 though he is primarily using the event as preparation for the World Championships.

Mark Cassidy (An Post-Sean Kelly) was a little further back, coming in with a group 3:35 down.

Tomorrow sees the riders take in 180kms in Devon with a trio of climbs – one 1^st cat and two second cats – in the opening third of the route.

Stage 4: Result

KOM Llyswen Hill (Cat 3 at 62.4mls) 

KOM: Brecon Beacons (Cat 1 at 78.4mls) 

Sprint: Newtown (at 14.7mls) 

Sprint: Llandrindod Wells (at 42.2mls) 

Sprint: Mountain Ash (at 96.8mls) 

General Classification

Sprints Classification

KOM Classification