Nicolas Roche normally needs lots of racing before he hits top form. But he looked strong on the climb to the finish of stage 4 at Dubai Tour today. Compatriot Conor Dunne was in the breakaway of the day.
Conor Dunne and Nicolas Roche Dubai Tour stage 4
A breakaway specialist in recent years, Conor Dunne was on the attack again today. This time he darted off the front in a breakaway at Dubai Tour.
And while the Aqua Blue Sport man and all of the others with him were recaptured, they put up a very good fight.
Nicolas Roche also showed some early season form today; riding strongly on the uphill finish.
Irish rider Dunne got clear in the early breakaway along with Christopher Williams (Novo Nordisk), Sun Xiaolong (Mitchelton-BikeExchange) and Simone Bevilacqua (Willier-Triestina).
Significantly there also two riders from Rally Cycling present; Brandon McNulty and Robin Carpenter.
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As the 172km stage to the Hatta Dam finishing incline progressed the breakaway looked very strong.
They gained more than four minutes. And with just under 30km to go only 1:30 had been trimmed from their advantage.
It meant they had well over two minutes in hand with about 25km remaining. As a result, they had a fighting chance of making it all the way.
However, as the pressure ramped up the breakaway split; Dunne and the Rally pairing dropping the others.
McNulty was clearly Rally’s protected rider of the pair out front. And after Carpenter had emptied himself on the front of the escape he sat up.
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That left 19-year-old McNulty out front with Conor Dunne. And with 17km remaining they still had around 2:15 over the increasingly panicking peloton.
However, with 15km to go the day’s work took its toll on Dunne. He lost his place at the front and slipped off McNulty’s wheel on an incline.
Dunne would remain between lone leader and bunch for more than 10km before being caught.
And while teenager McNulty very nearly made it all the way, he was caught deep inside the last kilometre with the finish line in his sights.
Watch the brutal final 50m of the @DubaiTour queen stage atop Hatta Dam as @Rally_Cycling's @BrandonMcNult bravely succumbs to chase led by winner @sonnycolbrelli (@Bahrain_Merida), while defending champ @marcelkittel collapses at finish | via @Eurosport #homeofcycling #DubaiTour pic.twitter.com/1vOXxVryCr
— Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) February 9, 2018
That paved the way for a uphill group sprint; Sonny Colbrelli winning it for Bahrain-Merida.
Magnus Cort (Astana) was 2nd and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) 3rd. Race leader Elia Viviani (QuickStep) claimed 6th on the day.
That was enough to keep him in the lead. With one stage remaining he has just two seconds on hand over Cort.
Colbrelli is 3rd at four seconds and Nathan Van Hooydonck (BMC Racing) 4th at seven seconds.
Irish cyclists in Dubai Tour
Best of the Irish today was Nicolas Roche (BMC). He was 16th on the stage, losing 11 seconds to the winner.
However, with the peloton breaking up very significantly on the testing finish, the vast majority of those in the lead group lost well over one minute.
Dunne ended in the day in 65th, some 6:19 back after a very strong ride out in the wind all day.
His Aqua Blue Sport team mate Matt Brammeier was in 91st place, some 7:41 down.
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