Clemens Fankhauser (Austria Tirol Cycling) has won the An Post Rás for the second time this afternoon. The 30 year-old took the jersey on stage three and despite countless attacks since then, held firm to cross the line with three seconds to spare on runner-up Jai Hindley of Australia with the latter's teammate Lucas Hamilton taking third. Above, Nicolai Brochner of Denmark Riwal wins Stage 8 (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
By Brian Canty
Clemens Fankhauser has written his name into Rás legend this afternoon by becoming one of a handful of riders to win the race twice.
Philip Cassidy, Paul McCormack, Chris Newtown, Ciaran Power and Stephen Spratt are all two-time winners while Seamus O’Hanlon won it four times and Paddy Flanagan three times.
Fankheuser was truly immense this week and by crossing the line in the same time as stage winner Nicolas Brochner (Riwal Platform) this afternoon in Skerries he adds the title to the one he claimed back in 2014.
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The 30-year old has had a brilliant year so far this season with top results all around Europe but this An Post Rás is actually his first win.
He never managed to take a stage this week but he was up there on most days – or at least on the days it counted and he is a worthy winner.
Nicolai Brochner (Riwal Platform) won today’s final stage for his second victory of the week, the first coming on Wednesday’s stage from Dingle to Sneem.
Today’s stage was animated by a six-man break that had a maximum advantage of three minutes but with so many teams clearly intent on bringing the race to a sprint, the leaders’ advantage was wiped out inside the last 30 kilometres.
Race winner for the second time; Fanhauser looking composed in the yellow jersey on today's final Rás stage (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
Four of those escapees were Irishmen with Bryan McCrystal (ASEA-Wheelworx), Conor Dunne (JLT-Condor Cycles), Ronan McLaughlin (Irish national team) and Marc Potts (Neon Velo) joining Rob Partridge (Madison Genesis) and Craig Evers (Australia national team) out front.
Alas, they’d drop off one by one and get caught inside 10k to go.
That gave way to a fresh wave of late attacks, the best of which was James Gullen’s (Pedal Heaven) attempt to wriggle free.
He was away with a kilometre to go but got reeled in with metres to go.
Taco van de Hoorn (Join-S De Rijke) and Emiel Wastyn (An Post Chain Reaction) rounded out the podium.
How it unfolded
Today’s eighth and final stage took the riders on a 147-kilometre journey from Kildare town to the finish line in Skerries and once again, clear blue skies and warm temperatures greeted the riders.
A 12noon start gave the riders a little lie-in this morning and they’ll have been glad of the extra hour in bed to recover because the pace was frantic from the get-go.
Though Clemens Fankhauser of the Austria Tirol Team has been immense since he took the yellow jersey on stage three, he only held a slender margin of three seconds over Jai Hindley of Australia and his teammate Lucas Hamilton.
Behind them, Irish pair Eddie Dunbar and Damien Shaw lurked with intent at 19 and 58 seconds, respectively so the 2014 winner needed to be vigilant to the attacks.
A few early skirmishes were all hauled back but after Milltown and Prosperous a five-man group clipped away and in it were Bryan McCrystal (ASEA-Wheelworx), Joseph Breheny (UCD-FitzCycles.ie), Rob Partridge (Madison Genesis), Conor Dunne (JLT-Condor Cycles), Craig Evers (Pedal Heaven) and Ronan McLaughlin (Irish national team).
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The pel0ton passes through the Curragh on the way to Skerries to conclude what was a great Rás (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
Breheny was the first to buckle and he dropped back to Marc Potts (Neon Velo) who was making a determined effort to bridge across.
However, Potts wasn’t hanging around and he managed to bridge and after 40 kilometres the leading six at half a minute.
The gap climbed to a minute by the 50-kilometre mark and later two minutes, meaning Dunne was virtual leader for the time being.
At 70 kilometres they were almost three minutes clear and Dunne must have been thinking of the greatest smash and grab in recent Ras history at this point.
He started 1’34” clear but with over half the stage to go he knew there was still work to do.
McCrystal was clearly flying also and he chased the KOH points all day, taking the prime on the line going over the category three Pluckhimin.
Matt Holmes (Madison Genesis) tried to bridge to the break with the help of Jack Wilson (An post Chain Reaction) and Woulter Mol (Join-S De Rijke) but as Holmes was a big GC threat he was given no rope at all.
That trio did get 45 seconds of an advantage but the Riwal Platform team from Denmark were having none of it and they ramped up the pace, which also brought the bunch closer to the leading five.
With 50 kilometres to go the margin had been really trimmed back and was now less than a minute as the cars were pulled out from behind them.
McCrystal was first over the category three climb at Cross of the Cage (98k) and strong driving by the break saw the gap widen again to 1’30”.
The Rás field enjoyed mostly good weather over the last eight days and the sun was out again on stage 8 of the race (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
Behind, Fankhauser will have been mightily relieved to get the help of An Post Chain Reaction and Riwal Platform, both clearly sensing the lads up ahead were dangerous but also because they have fast men who can win sprints.
On the first passing through Skerries the leaders had 1’23” but the gap was pared back to close on a minute again with less than 40 kilometres to go.
Potts lost contact and he went back to the bunch as the leading five pressed on.
At 25 kilometres to go the gap was back down to 45” and as the leaders started the last climb of the Black Hills their lead was trimmed by another 10 seconds as many teams massed at the front to try and get organised for what was shaping up to be a bunch sprint.
Evers was dropped from the break to leave it four up front but the leaders still gave it everything in an effort to stay away.
With just 10 kilometres to go the leading four were flat to the mat and clinging to a 25-second lead but Rob Partridge was next to blow, meaning it was down to just McCrystal, McLaughlin and Dunne up front.
The pace of the bunch behind reeled in that trio and it came down to a bunch sprint.
James Gullen (Pedal Heaven) had one last dash to try and squirm free but he was pulled back in the final metres and it was Nicolai Brochner (Riwal Platform) who took the honours from Taco van der Hoorn (Join-S De Rijke) and Emiel Wastyn.
We’ll have much more later.
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