Conor Dunne is on the cusp of his best ever general classification result with just one testing stage remaining.
By Brian Canty
Irish elite international Conor Dunne is poised to strike on the final stage of the Tour of Taiwan set to unfold in the early hours of Thursday morning Irish time.
The Condor -JLT man is 4th overall just two seconds off the lead going into the fifth and final stage from Jianshanpi Jiangnan to Wutai, which will take the field on a hilly 146-kilometre route.
Dunne said he’ll give it his all in pursuit of what would be his best ever result after staying out of a trouble on today’s stage 4 that ended in a bunch sprint.
However, having made two mammoth efforts already in the breakaway – during stage 1 on Sunday and stage 3 on Tuesday - he knows it will take something very special to pull off the win.
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Yesterday, Tuesday, he managed to infiltrate a three-man break that rode for much of the stage out front.
But he was dropped late on the final climb as his two breakaway companions just about survived for 1st and 2nd on the day.
Had Dunne managed to hold off the select group that caught him just 3km from the finish he would have taken the race lead.
However, he’s still upbeat as he looks to wrestle the leader’s jersey from the shoulders of Australian Ben O’Connor (Avanti IsoWhey Sport).
“I thought I could hang on and try to take the win,” said Dunne of his breakaway heroics on Tuesday’s stage 3.
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“I gave it absolutely everything and the Dutch rider Peter Schulting (ParkHotel Valkenburg CT) hit me on the steepest part of the final climb. I just couldn't go with him.”
Schulting took stage honours from Anthony Giacoppo (Avanti IsoWhey Sport) and Dunne was swept up by a 35-strong group that finished 33 seconds back.
“I was in a box by the end of it. We had to go pretty deep in the last 30 kilometres to keep the gap on the bunch but eventually I popped.”
He said today’s stage 4 was about staying out of trouble ahead of the climbing to come on Thursday’s final leg.
“The stage features probably the hardest climb so I’m just going to try my best to survive the final climb,” he said.
“It’s been a great week so far and it’s great to be back racing. I'm pleased with how I'm feeling and I’ve put in a good block of training so it seems to have paid off.
“I'll just have my Chinese takeaway and fried rice tonight and pray the climb to the finish it isn't too steep,” he joked.
Tomorrow’s stage features one climb after 24 kilometres that reaches 271 metres, another that gets up to 600 metres after 66 kilometres and the final leg-breaker to the line which reaches 861 metres.
The top 39 riders are separated by less than a minute so it should be quite a cracker.
General Classification
1 Ben O'Connor (Aus) Avanti IsoWhey Sports 11:22:22
2 Kevin De Jonghe (Bel) Cibel - Cebon 0:00:02
3 Flavio De Luna (Mex) Team Illuminate
4 Connor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor
5 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) NIPPO - Vini Fantini
6 Peter Schulting (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg 0:00:14
7 Alexander Ray (NZl) Team Illuminate 0:00:35
8 William Clarke (Aus) Drapac Professional Cycling 0:00:36
9 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) Avanti IsoWhey Sports 0:00:43
10 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:00:44
11 Edwin Avila (Col) Team Illuminate 0:00:51
12 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Parkhotel Valkenburg 0:00:53
13 Neil Van Der Ploeg (Aus) Avanti IsoWhey Sports
14 Paco Mancebo (Esp) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling 0:00:56
15 Benjamin Prades (Esp) Team Ukyo 0:00:57
16 Marcus Karlsson (Swe) Team Tre Berg-Bianchi
17 Salvador Guardiola Tora (Esp) Team Ukyo
18 Robbie Hucker (Aus) Avanti IsoWhey Sports
19 Steven Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor
20 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) Cibel - Cebon
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