Bryan McCrystal has put in yet another scintillating performance at the An Post Rás, riding in the break all day and taking enough KOH points to ensure he would lead the mountains' classification by the end of today. (Photo: Shane Stokes)
By Brian Canty
Nicolai Brochner (22) won Wednesday's fourth stage of the An Post Rás in a group sprint into Sneem on a day that saw no major shake-up in the general classification.
The Denmark Riwal Platform man took the first win of the race for his team while trailing him in second and third today were the An Post-Chainreaction duo of Emiel Wastyn and Aaron Gate.
Best of the Irish and best county man was Mark Dowling of Louth ASEA-Wheelworx who took an excellent 6th place on the day.
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Crossing the line in the same lead group was the yellow jersey of Clemens Fankheuser and he can thank his Austria Tirol Cycling team for a superb job in patrolling the break all day.
Once again, the escape featured a smattering of country riders and in the main move of the day were Bryan McCrystal (ASEA-Wheelworx) and Anthony Walsh (Aquablue).
The break escaped inside 50 kilometres of racing but the latter was the first to be dropped on the category one climb of Ballaghisheen Pass after 90 kilometres.
However, that was to be expected as he’s been struggling with illness all week.
The others were Ed Laverack (JLT-Condor Cycles), Casper von Folsach (Denmark- Riwal), Nicolas Vereecken (An Post Chainreaction), Rasmus Mygind (Denmark Riwal Platform) and Ike Groen (Join –S De Rijke).
Mygind was only 15 seconds down on GC starting the day so he had the most to gain by committing to the escape.
They pressed on until the penultimate climb of Coomakista where Groen got dropped and following him out the back door was Van Folsach.
That left it four up ahead but on the final climb of Letterfinish with less than 10 kilometres to go the catch was made by the bunch and it was all back together, which gave way to the bunch sprint.
How it unfolded
Today’s stage of the race took the riders 162 kilometres from Dingle to Sneem and with four categorised climbs – including another category one around the midway point, the biggest shake-up of the week so far was expected.
The stage didn’t disappoint with a truly enthralling battle between the yellow jersey, his Tirol Cycling team and those with eyes on taking the jersey from him.
The peloton climbs the Ballaghisheen Pass on stage 4 of An Post Rás (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
Of those best-placed to challenge Jai Hindley (Australia national team) and Aaron Gate (An Post Chainreaction) were closest at three and five seconds, respectively, and with 18 riders within a minute it was always going to be a real firecracker of a day.
The stage had a nasty category three climb after 10 kilometres and the race to the bottom of that resulted in a fearsome pace at the front as riders tried to stay out of trouble, chase KOH points as well as go clear in an early move.
As it transpired, Niko Holler (Bike Aid) was first over the top followed by Matteo Cigala (Aquablue) - who has really excelled this week and Elliott Porter (Neon Velo).
After that, a 10-man move tried to escape and in there, amongst others, were Clemens Fankhauser (Tirol Cycling team), Damien Shaw (An Post Chainreaction), Eoin Morton (UCD-Fitzcycles.ie), Bryan McCrystal (ASEA-Wheelworx), Thomas Ryan (Australia Cisco Racing Team), George Fowler (NFTO), Dexter Gardias (Pedal Heaven), David Hamilton (North Down).
However, with the yellow jersey present the move was brought back, as expected.
After 42 kilometres another move went away and in that, once again, was McCrystal as well Ian Richardson (UCD-FitzCycles), Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo), Troels Ronning Vinther (Denmark Riwal Platform), Robbert de Greef (Join S-De Rijke) and Madison Genesis man Matt Holmes.
Nicolai Brochner of Denmark Riwal comes home to win An Post Rás Stage 4 (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
That sextet rode hard but never really pulled out any meaningful advantage and by Killorglin at the 50k mark they were all back together.
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Indeed, a tailwind made it extremely difficult for anything to get away while the Tirol Cycling team of race leader Fankheuser made it even more difficult with some hard chasing from behind.
Then, matters changed with 90 kilometres gone when a group of strong men got away in a move instigated by Ed Laverack (JLT-Condor Cycles) and Casper von Folsach (Denmark- Riwal).
And soon to join them were the in-form McCrystal, Nicolas Vereecken (An Post Chainreaction), Rasmus Mygind (Denmark Riwal Platform), Ike Groen (Join –S De Rijke) and Anthony Walsh (Aquablue).
That group had a minute on the bunch with 72 kilometres on the clock and that advantage doubled after 10 more kilometres.
And such was their pace-setting that it almost went out to three minutes by the 100-kilometre mark.
At this point, Mygind was leader on the road as he started the day ninth overall at 15 seconds.
An Post Rás peloton snakes its way up The Ballaghisheen Pass (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
Starting the Ballaghisheen Pass the break’s advantage was 2’30” as Tirol sat on the front and rode tempo in an effort to contain that deficit.
Walsh (who has been battling a chest infection all week) was first to lose contact with the break after puncturing.
Cresting the top of the KOH the gap was down to 1’40”.
Casper von Folsach (Denmark - Riwal Platform) took the KOH from McCrystal with Groen next, though the latter was next to lose contact after crashing on the descent, leaving it five up front.
Behind, the bunch began to split and over the top of the climb the front group of the yellow jersey was down to around 90 riders.
Mygind, McCrystal, Laverack, Vereecken and Von Folsach trucked on but there was the sense Tirol had things under control as the gap began to drop below 1’30” with 40 kilometres to go, albeit with one categorised climb remaining, that being the category three ascent of Letterfinish.
With 30 kilometres to go that lead was pushed out by around 20 seconds to 1’50” so it was really touch and go.
Meanwhile, Von Folsach (Denmark-Riwal) took the penultimate Cat 2 KOH of Coomakista with McCrystal just behind him, clearly still feeling strong after a tough week already.
Adam Armstrong leads a section of the Rás field on the road to Sneem on stage 4 (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
Approaching the 20k to go sign the gap was under a minute and the team cars were pulled out as the chasers, still led by Tirol closed in.
30 seconds was the advantage as the leading five passed through Sneem for the first time before heading onto the 17-kilometre finishing lap.
On the final climb of the day (on that lap) Von Folsach (Denmark-Riwal) was next to get blown out which meant there were four men still out front; virtual leader Laverack (JLT-Condor Cycles), McCrystal (ASEA-Wheelworx), Vereecken (An Post Chainreaction) and Rasmus Mygind (Denmark Riwal Platform).
And as the leaders went over the top of the climb of Letterfinish it was all back together.
All that remained after that was a swift descent into Sneem where a real battle for position ensued.
In the end, it was Nicolai Brochner of the Denmark Riwal Platform team who timed his effort best, taking the sprint from Emiel Wastyn and Aaron Gate (both An Post Chainreaction).
The aforementioned Hindley was also in that main bunch so he is still second overall, while he also still in possession of the U23 jersey.
Gate is still third overall and also still in possession of the points jersey.
Ian Richardson still has the county rider's jersey, though McCrystal is breathing down his neck there.
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