‘Roy of the Rovers’ Aiken redefines Rás for county men with Wicklow raid for yellow

Roger Aiken (Louth Charter Prague) on the far left buried himself in the finishing straight of Rás stage 7 in Naas today only to be beaten by Tomas Okrouhlicky (Czech Republic Ac Sparta Praha) on the far right (Photo: Adrian O'Connor - www.blackumbrellaphotography.com & homepage photo by Cian Lynch)

Roger Aiken may have won a stage in the Rás before this year, represented Ireland on the roads and won countless national cyclocross titles, but his place in the Irish cycling history books has been defined by his ride in the An Post Rás this week.

Having ridden just two races this year, both of them in Ireland, before the bunch rolled out from Dunboyne last Sunday, the Banbridge CC man riding for Louth Charter Prague this week has completely put to bed the notion that county riders cannot compete with the foreign-based full-timers when it comes to the Rás.

“It’s disappointing not to get the win," said the national cyclocross champion who was beaten into second place on the line in Naas by breakaway companion Tomas Okrouhlicky (Czech Republic Ac Sparta Praha).

"I was riding hard at the end, going for time, to try move myself up in the GC. But maybe I should have conserved my legs to try take the stage. Today was hard because it’s the end of the week and everybody’s tired; the legs aren’t as fresh but I had a go anyway. It’s the second day in a row our team (Louth Prague Charter) have taken the county jersey so we have to be pleased with that,” Aiken added in reference to Bryan McCrystal's county award of yesterday.

Not content with having been the man of the race before today’s stage 7 from Carlow to Naas even started, Aiken set out today with only one aim; to win the race outright. And while he fell short, on another day when the cards could have fallen in his favour a little better, he would have nicked it.

With an early breakaway having fled the bunch before the racing moved into the climbs of Wicklow today, Aiken waited until the legs of the men in the yellow jersey group around him had been stung by 80kms on the road before making his move.

With the escape fracturing up the climb of Garrymore (80km), four of the six breakaway men went into the red and were soon back in the bunch as Aiken took off in pursuit of the two survivors from that early escape; Kenny De Ketele (Belgium) and Tomas Okroulicky (Czech Republic Sparta Praha).

They had around 1 minute on the group that Aiken sprang from containing the yellow jersey of UK Youth’s Marcin Bialoblocki.

A three-man chase group had just moved clear after the two leaders and Aiken first bridged up to them. He would press on alone up the Shay Elliott climb, now in a head-to-head with lone leader Okroulicky, who had dropped De Ketele.

The gap between Aiken and the yellow jersey would stretch to over two minutes, meaning the Irish man was virtual yellow jersey.

From behind, Aiken would be joined by Jakub Kratochvila (Austria Arbo Gebruder Weiss). They would catch the lone leader, hotly chased by Mark Dowling (Polygon Sweet Nice) and Richard Handley (Rapha Condor JLT).

While Handley and Dowling would be absorbed by the bunch and the yellow jersey would come under sustained attack from those in his group, the three leaders maintained their lead at around 1 minute for much of the last 20km.

While that gap would close to just 22 seconds on the line, the three leaders survived to battle it out for the stage win in Naas; with Okrouhlicky taking it from Aiken, and Kratochvila rounding out the podium.

Aiken would have needed a further 52 seconds to take the yellow jersey and indeed his fine riding and time gains only moved him up one place overall – from 9^th to 8th - but with his reputation having been bolstered massively and his exploits of this week completely redefining the Rás for years to come for the county men.

Stage 7 – How it unfolded

The first 30 to 40 minutes of the 141km stage from Carlow to Naas via the climbs of Wicklow was marked by a lot of aggressive attacking, with many riders clearly keen to try and get into an early breakaway before the main climbs of the day needed to be tackled.

Among those active were Irish riders Ryan Sherlock (Polygon Sweet Nice), Tim O’Regan (DID Dunboyne), Owen Jeffries (Derry Duffin Transport), and Anthony Murray (Subaru Albion).

However, all of those early efforts came to nothing and it was not until after the riders had covered just over 30kms that a significant breakaway went clear.

Kenny De Ketele (Belgium), Coulton Hartrich (Canada), Tomas Okroulicky (Czech Republic Sparta Praha) and Benjamin Edmuller (Austria Gebruder Weiss) all left the bunch in a small group and we joined by Kristofer Dahl (Canada) and yesterday’s stage winner Rico Rogers (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku).

The group worked well, with the gap between it and the peloton getting up to 1 minute with 40km raced. Going over the first climb of the day, the category two Ballythomas Hill crested at 42km, that lead had grown a little further to 1:20, with Czech rider Okrouhlicky taking maximum points in an apparent bid to safeguard the lead in the climbers’ classification of his team mate Martin Hunal.

And again it was the Czech who took maximum points on the second climb of the day at Mondlea at 45km, where the gap was now 1:28. By the time the riders took in the third ascent – the cat three Annagh Gap at 47.5kms where Okrouhlicky again took the prime – the escape’s advantage had been pegged back a little to 1:15. But it was back out to 1:30 at the Coolgreaney (km 52km), with the Dutch Koga team chasing in the bunch with the UK Youth squad of yellow jersey Marcin Bialoblocki.

On the cat 2 climb of Garrymore at the 80km mark, Okrouhlicky and Belgium’s De Ketele pulled clear of the rest of the escape, who were quickly caught by the depleted bunch.

Just after that, a chase group of four set out from the bunch after the two leaders. In that were: Kristofer Dahl (Canada National Team), Roger Aiken (Louth Prague Charter), Adam Homolka (Austria Arbo Gebrder Weiss) and Coulton Hartrich (USA Astellas Oncology).

On the Shay Elliott climb, Aiken then pushed on alone after the two leaders. Up front, De Ketele got dropped by Okrouhlicky and was caught by Aiken and that pair were then joined by Jakub Kratochvila (Austria Arbo Gebruder Weiss).

However, Aiken then dropped them and was second rider on the road in pursuit of the very strong Okrouhlicky from the Czech Republic. At that stage, Aiken stretched his lead over the yellow jersey group and became yellow jersey on the road with 110km done. He was then joined again by Kratochvila and with 25km to go they were 40 seconds down on the lone leader with the bunch/yellow jersey group a further 30 seconds back the road.

Aiken and Kratochvila then caught the leader, with those three having a gap of 45 seconds on Mark Dowling (Polygon Sweet Nice) and Richard Handley (Rapha Condor JLT) while the yellow jersey group was 1:10 in arrears. With 20km to go the yellow jersey group had almost caught Dowling and Handley but was 55 seconds down on Aiken and his two fellow escapees. But that gap was maintained to the 10km to go marker and was still at 48 seconds with 5km remaining to the finish in Naas.

Behind the leaders, Ronan McLaughlin (An Post-Chainreaction) was attacking the yellow jersey group as were other riders who have proven very strong this week; Mike Northey and Node4 and Ben Greenwood of the Scottish National Team.

However, the three up front had ridden a great race and stayed strong to the end and they would survive out front all the way, with Tomas Okrouhlicky (Sparta Praha) taking the stage from Aiken, with Jakub Kratochvila in third.