Conor Dunne has put in another excellent ride at the Tour of Britain and after taking points on three of the day's four climbs today he's right in contention for the King of the Mountains jersey.
By Brian Canty
For the second time this week, Conor Dunne made it into the breakaway at the Tour of Britain and spent much of the day out front before inevitably being caught.
The An Post Chain Reaction rider put in a storming ride on last Sunday’s opener, taking the points jersey at the end of a superb day and though he’s fallen out of contention for that classification in the interim, he’s right up there in the fight for the polka dot jersey.
Dunne escaped in a five-man move on today’s 166-kilometre fifth stage from Prudhoe to the summit finish at Hartside Fell, Mark McNally (Madison-Genesis), Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo), Pete Williams (ONE) and Morgan Kneisky (Raleigh) the others who were with him.
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That quintet pulled out a maximum gap of about four minutes on the peloton but never looked likely to hold on.
The stage featured four categorised climbs and Dunne was in flying form, going over the Cat. 1 Haydon Bridge climb after 29 kilometres in third place.
He was also third over the Cat. 3 climb of Croglin after 85 kilometres while at the similarly ranked ascent of Brockleymoor he was also third.
By the latter climb the peloton had really ramped up the speed and Dunne, gassed from his efforts, was distanced along with Kneisky with around 30 kilometres to go.
Still, his results going over the climbs saw him jump up to fifth in that classification, just six points behind Peter Williams (ONE Pro Cycling).
He would cross the line in the grupetto over 16 minutes back. Jack Wilson was also in that group.
Best of the Irish today was Eddie Dunbar, the NFTO man putting in a great ride to finish 24th at 1:06.
He was his team’s best-placed rider on the stage while the other Irishman in the race, Ryan Mullen (Garmin Cannondale) did a good ride also, finishing 3:47 down in 39th.
His job today was to protect the interests of the defending champion Dylan Van Baarle who finished 16th at 35 seconds and is just 46 seconds off the race lead.
Team Sky won the day through Wout Poels but saw the overall lead taken by Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka), who he beat to the line.
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Tomorrow sees the riders tackle a 192 kilometre stage from Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham and there are three categorised climbs along the way.
Results
Tour of Britain 2015, stage five: Prudhoe to Hartside (164km)
1. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, in 4-12-22
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, at 2 secs
3. Benat Intxausti (Esp) Movistar, at 17 secs
4. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step, at 18 secs
5. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy
6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
7. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An-Post – ChainReaction
8. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo
9. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar
10. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, all same time
24. Eddie Dunbar (IRL) NFTO, at 1:06
39. Ryan Mullen (IRL) Garmin-Cannondale, at 3:47
101. Jack Wilson (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, 16:04
103. Conor Dunne (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, at same time
Overall classification after stage five
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, in 23-02-36
2. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, at 1 sec
3. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy, at 30 secs
4. Benat Intxausti (Esp) Movistar, at 33 secs
5. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 37 secs
6. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, at 38 secs
7. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step
8. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar
9. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
10. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, all same time
60. Eddie Dunbar (IRL) NFTO, at 25:40
61. Ryan Mullen (IRL) Garmin-Cannondale, at 26:04
103. Conor Dunne (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, 46:57
107. Jack Wilson (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, 53:03
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