Irvine and Mullen make their move on savage Rás day to Newport

Martyn Irvine has underlined his status as perhaps Ireland's best hope of winning the Rás outright by gaining big time into Newport today and moving into the top 3 (Photo: George Doyle)

The fourth stage of the An Post Rás may have gone to one of the foreign visitors in the shape of Latvian Aidis Kruopis, but there was plenty to welcome from an Irish perspective on the 160km journey from Bearna to Newport.

On a day when the field split to pieces, former world track champion Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis) was to the fore when the field broke up; making the large leading group that was away for most of the stage.

And when the 22 leading riders split up in the last hour of racing, Irvine was again to the fore and managed to take 4th on the stage and move into 3rd overall, though failing to gain any time on the yellow jersey of Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team).

Ryan Mullen had a similarly good ride today; the An Post Chainreaction rider finishing in the same time as Irvine and crossing the line in 7th place to move up to 4th overall.

Ian Richardson of UCD CC retains his lead in the county rider classification, with Ronan McLaughlin (Cork-Aquablue) taking the county award on the stage.

Mullen is the new leader of the U23 classification.

Aidis Kruopis, An Post Chainreaction, takes the 160km Rás stage 4 from Bearna to Newport (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)

How it unfolded

The absence of any categorised climbs on the 160km stage 4 from Bearna to Newport also looked set to give rise to a day of all out action, and so it came to pass.

Ronan McLaughlin (Cork Aquablue) and Robin Kelly (Mayo Coleman Electronics TKE) were first to venture up the road shortly after the start but were brought back.

Dominic Jelfs (Madison Genesis) and Eric Johnstone (Canada) were next to go and they were joined by Ian Bibby (NFTO) and Alessandro Pettiti (Team IDEA 2010 ASD) also gets across.

They quickly pulled out 30 seconds, prompting a reaction from the bunch, with another group trying to get across.

They were reigning Rás champion Clemens Fankhauser (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam), Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo Cycling Team), Chris Reilly (Down North Graham Powerhouse Sport), Stephen Murray (Cork Strata3-Velorevolution RT) and David Watson (Down North Graham Powerhouse Sport).

Ken Tobin (Dublin Bikeworx) and Bryan McCrystal (Louth Team Asea) tried to get onto them but were caught by the bunch.

Patrick Clarke (Mayo Coleman Electronics – T.K.E) then went clear with Robin Kelly.

The leading group on the way to Newport on what turned out to be an all-out stage (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)

With 20km covered the two groups off the front had merged leaving a very strong looking nine-man escape, with the two county men chasing.

Peter Murdoch (Neon Velo Cycling Team), Sean McKenna (Cork Aquablue) and Bryan McCrystal (Louth Team Asea) the broke clear in pursuit of Clarke and Kelly and the nine men leading the race; the escape’s gap nearing two minutes on the peloton after 30km of racing.

The field behind then split significantly with a 13-rider chase group pulling clear including the yellow jersey of Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling) and all five riders from the An Post-Chainreaction team; Ryan Mullen, Aidis Kruopis, Joshua Edmondson, Conor Dunne and Aaron Gate.

Also present were Mario Schoibl (Tirol Cycling Team), Jaap de Man (Team 3M), New Zealand duo Marc Ryan and Alex Frame, Ronan McLaughlin (Cork Aquablue) and Patrick Clarke and Robin Kelly, who were caught by the chasers.

After 40km the two groups merged, forming a large escape of 22 riders, with the next group just 30 seconds back.

At the front, there followed repeated attacks by Ronan McLaughlin who escaped a number of times only to be caught before pulling clear properly with Jimmy Janssens (Team 3M).

And with around 100km covered, they had 1;40 on the yellow jersey group.

After 120km, and with the chase after the leaders become more intense, the large yellow jersey group split in two; with 14 men from it pressing ahead after McLaughlin and Janssens.

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All five of the An Post-Chainreaction team made it into the front group. They won the stage and are now 4th overall and lead the U23 classification, both with Ryan Mullen.

In that select chase group were: Clemens Fankhauser (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam), Ryan Mullen, Aidis Kruopis, Joshua Edmondson and Aaron Gate (all An Post Chain Reaction), race leader Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team), Jimmy Janssens and Elliott Porter (Team 3M), Ian Bibby and Robert Partridge (both NFTO), Erick Rowsell and Martyn Irvine (both Madison Genesis), Michael Cuming (JLT Condor), Davide Vigano (Team IDEA 2010 ASD), Alex Frame (New Zealand National Team) and Ronan McLaughlin (Cork Aquablue).

They soon caught the two leaders, leaving a 16-man move out front.

Kroupis, a former Orica GreenEdge rider, then attacked and was joined by last year’s winner Fankhauser, Bibby and Vigano, Mullen, Irvine, yellow jersey Postlberger and Edmondson.

There then followed several attacks by Kroupis. However, while he failed to get clear he took the stage from a sprint in Newport from Davide Vigano (Team IDEA 2010 ASD), Ian Bibby (NFTO) and Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis).

Postlberger now leads from Edmondson, with Irvine 3rd and Ryan Mullen now 4th overall.

Provisional Results