By Shane Stokes
At times sitting far, far back in the peloton and looking worried about his yellow jersey, George Kimber survived a tense and demanding final stage on Sunday to win the Rás Tailteann.
The Isle of Man Cycling Club rider was under pressure for much of the concluding day, with the 2022 Rás winner Daire Feeley attacking 10km in and soon becoming race leader on the road.
Feeley initially went clear as part of a four man move, then ended up in a 14 man breakaway when others bridged across.
Kimber had started the day just 32 seconds ahead of the Clare: Burren CC rider and with the gap at times over a minute, he was under real pressure.
Later attacks by Jamie Meehan (Team Ireland) and Odhran Doogan (Cycling Ulster) also threatened him, those riders having been his closest rivals overall.
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However all bar stage winner Josh Charlton (Great Britain) were recaptured by the peloton before the line.
“It is amazing,” Kimber told Stickybottle of his victory, then clarified it was yet to fully sink in.
“To be honest, I’m not feeling it fully right now, it’s unreal. I don’t know how I pulled it off at the end there. I thought the race was gone, but I just stuck in there and it came back.
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“It was such a cagey race. No one would have let me go early, so I had to let a move go early and one GC guy in there isn’t the end of the world.
“There was probably always going to be one, but he [Feeley] is not the ideal guy to have in there because he’s so strong.
“I’m just so thankful I had the legs to bring it back at the end.”
Kimber grabbed the race lead when he won Saturday’s stage four to Mountrath. He was the only rider able to hold on to Meehan and fellow Team Ireland rider Dean Harvey when they went all out on the category one climb of Wolftrap.
Sunday marked the first-ever Rás GC victory for the Isle of Man team, and one he admitted that they were very surprised to take.
“Our DS has been saying all week we shouldn’t be able to win this race,” Kimber said.
“We’ve been down to three riders since stage two, and two of the guys are probably the youngest guys in the race, doing it for the first time.
“So when we’re competing against conti teams and national teams, on paper there’s no way we should be able to win it.”
Win it they did, judging things just right throughout the week and surviving some very dangerous attacks on the final day.
