Dutch win again on Rás but Irish amateurs shine on stage 4 climbs

Jason Van Dalen of the Dutch Continental Team Delta X wins stage 4 of the Rás into Glengariff. But the Irish county riders rode well during the hilly stage (Photo: Bryan Keane – Inpho)

By Graham Gillespie

Jason van Dalen has won today’s gruelling queen stage at the Rás to make it two wins in two days for his team Delta Cycling.

The Dutchman won in a sprint, beating a 26-man group that also contained many of the classification leaders and contenders.

That group rode clear over Healy Pass and put two minutes into the next group home. But most of the field was much further back.

Results Rás Tailteann stage 4: Listowel to Glengarrif (153km)

It was also a good day for Irish county riders, especially Matteo Cigala of Viner-Caremack-Pactimo who put in a massive ride to finish second.

Cigala’s teammate Ronan McLaughlin, meanwhile, claimed the best overall county rider’s jersey after an impressive display in the hills.

McLaughlin finished eighth on the day and was joined by Darnell Moore (Team Ireland) top ten, who finished tenth.

Conor Kissane (Killarney) put in a fantastic climbing display; reaching the top of Molls Gap first on a great day for the Kerry man.

Cyrille Thiery (Switzerland) was in the first group to finish and thus retains the yellow jersey.

He remains ten seconds ahead of Luuc Bugter (Delta Cycling) and eleven ahead of Damien Shaw (Holdsworth) who carries Irish hopes in the GC.

Robbe Ghys (Belgium) also keeps the U23 jersey after finishing third.

In the climbers’ classification, Kissane (Kerry Killarney) moves up to second. However, Lukas Ruegg (Switzerland) still has that jersey.

How Rás stage 4 unfolded

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After yesterday’s flat stage, today’s 153km leg from Listowel to Glengarriff brought a completely different challenge for the riders.

Stage four had a total of eight categorised climbs including the cat 1 Healy Pass.

KOH leader Lukas Ruegg took the first cat three climb of the day at Lacka West.

Ruegg would have to settle for second on the third climb of the day, as Jake Alderman (St Piran) took maximum points.

The race slowed down slightly after this climb as the riders tried to conserve energy ahead of the bigger ascents.

On the first of the cat 2 climbs at Ladies Point, two local riders were amongst the points. Conor Kissane was the first to cross the summit.

He was then followed by Simon Ryan (Strata 3-VeloRevolution).

Conor Kissane also took the climb at Molls Gap, where Sean Hahassey (Viner-Caremack-Pactimo) also got points.

At Garrenes, Kissane made it a hat trick while further back in the peloton numerous riders were dropping off.

Jellybelly rider Taylor Sheldon then launched a solo attack on the approach to Healy Pass.

The American rider took the cat 1 climb with 25km to go. However, with 15km left, a group containing most of the GC favourites caught him.

This group included the yellow jersey, green jersey, white jersey and KOH leader.

There was also plenty of Irish interest in this group with Darnell Moore (Ireland), Conn McDunphy, Damien Shaw, Russ Downing (all Holdsworth Pro Cycling), Matteo Cigala, Ronan McLaughlin (both Viner-Caremack-Pactimo) and Mark Dowling (Leinster).

Ultimately, it was Van Dalen who claimed the win in a sprint after having the pace set by his teammate and points leader Luuc Bugter.