Clemens Fankhauser, in yellow, said he was surprised at the standard of the county riders in the Rás considering the vast majority are not full time bike riders (Photo: Ramsey Cardy - Sportsfile)
By Shane Stokes
Although he defended his yellow jersey with tenacity and took the biggest result of his career yesterday at the An Post Rás finish in Skerries, Clemens Fankhauser has said he was under pressure in the final two days of the race and held on thanks to the effort of his Austria Tirol Cycling team.
The 28-year-old came under attack on Saturday’s mountainous stage and also on yesterday’s flatter leg to Skerries, with the rider who was in second place overall, Alex Peters, going clear early on in a bid to put Fankhauser under pressure.
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However the latter and his team were able to control the move and all subsequent attacks, with the Austrian rider stating that the desire of some other teams to have a bunch finish in Skerries also helped.
“I knew that some teams wanted to have a sprint today so we had a bit of support,” he told stickybottle after the race finish.
“Alex Peters, he was the only one who was really, really dangerous. He tried it sometimes, but fortunately I had my team around me and they really could protect me.
“To be honest, I did not feel so good the last two days, I was quite tired from stage five. But my team-mates did an amazing job and they could protect me. I am very happy.”
The winner's modesty and friendly approach won him as many admirers in Ireland as his strength on his bike. Seen here signing a Rás cap for 5-year-old Jay Keenan (Photo: Ramsey Cardy - Sportsfile)
Fankhauser impressed many during the race, and not just with his riding.
He came across as both humble and sincere, stating when he took the jersey on stage five that he wasn’t confident about holding it until the finish in Skerries, but then settling into the role of race leader.
He took time out of all of the main general classification contenders bar Sean Downey (An Post Chainrection Sean Kelly) on stage six to Seskin Hill, and appeared to grow in confidence as the days progressed.
Visibly nervous at the start of that sixth stage, he looked more at ease prior to yesterday’s start in Newbridge.
And once he crossed the finish line, the effect of the victory was obvious. Grinning broadly, he soaked up the applause from the crowd and then remained on the podium truck several minutes after the main presentation finished, savouring the moment.
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Once he dismounted from the truck he agreed to several requests for photographs from young cycling fans, hunkering down to their height level for the shots and spending time talking to them.
Fankhauser seemed genuinely impressed with the reception he received.
“For me it is absolutely amazing. It was such a nice race. The people are great, there is always a big crowd of people [by the roadside] and also the country is so nice. We had so many good impressions. It feels great to be the winner of such a nice race.”
Asked to comment about the county riders who dug deep to finish the event, he was praising of their commitment.
“They are so strong. It is incredible. They are not professionals so that means they cannot train so much. They work and do other stuff and riding such a race, eight days long, when you are not a professional, that is really strong,” he said.
“That is really amazing. Big respect to them.”
Fankhauser leaves the An Post Rás a different rider to how he arrived.
He said on stage five that he had previously ridden as a domestique for his teams, although his past results do show some strong performances such as 11th overall in the 2.HC Tour of Austria and victory last year in the 1.2 ranked Tur of Vojvodina II.
He’s now a more confident rider and says that the pressure is off for the rest of the year. That will, he hopes, enable him to clock up more strong results.
“You know, winning is always good. You get a bit relaxed if you win early in the season so you don’t have so much pressure and then you can go a bit easier,” he said.
“It is good for me; it is good for the team that we have some really good results. That is really important.
“Now I am going to another stage race in Luxembourg [the Fleche du Sud]. I don’t know how I feel. I hope I can recover a bit.
“Then we have some more stage races like the Tour of Austria and maybe something in Autumn in the Baltic countries or somewhere. We have some more nice races and I hope we will perform as well as here.”
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