Rupert Graham emerged from brutal conditions at the Tour of the North with his third stage win and final yellow. Irish teenager Conor Gallagher put in an epic ride, as did Lindsay Watson who was king of the hills. All photographs are by Toby Watson.
Rupert Graham Spirit Tifosi dominates Tour of the North
The final stage of the Tour of the North belong to Rupert Graham, The Spirit Tifosi rider not only won the stage but also the overall title.
And on a very challenging day for racing, when the course was moved from the intend course because of snow, the winner performed in real style.
At the end of the 105kn stage he was clear on his own by a significant margin; one minute forty two seconds to be precise.
And in his wake the field was decimated; just 61 riders finishing out of the 100 that started stage 1.
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A total of 15 riders abandoned today and six did not start; none of which worried the top men.
Graham had shown his class by winning the short TT yesterday morning. And he then won the afternoon stage.
However, on the opening stage he finished in the second chase group. It meant he lost 57 seconds to team mate and stage 1 winner Marcus Burnett and Jack Stanton (Pro Vision).
And Graham also gave away time to four riders in the first chase group; Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles) and Lindsay Watson (PowerHouseSport).
That time loss on the opening stage meant though Rupert Graham won both of yesterday’s stages, he was still a long way off yellow.
One to watch: Irish junior team rider Conor Gallagher’s 3rd place today was a brilliant ride. He put one minute into top elite riders from Ireland and Britain at the very end of an epic stage on the fourth day of racing.
Lindsay Watson was to the fore the whole weekend. He maintained that form into the final stage, cleaning up in the climbers' classification which he won.
Rupert Graham began today’s concluding stage in 5th place overall, some 40 seconds off leader Stanton, 36 seconds down on Burnett, 31 seconds off Moore and 20 seconds down on Watson.
It meant his task today was clear; win solo by a clear margin to take the outright win. And that’s exactly what he did.
He got clear early in a strong man’s group. The yellow jersey Stanton missed the move and would also crash, but quickly recovered from that.
However, while he was stranded in the thinning peloton, also clear in the breakaway with Graham was team mate Marcus Burnett; an ally but also 2nd overall this morning and so leader on the road in the escape.
Also in that move were: Ben Joughlin (Pro Vision), junior rider Conor Gallagher (Cycling Ireland), Darragh McCarter (Donegal Bay), Ed Clemens (Spirit Tifosi), Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles), Cian Delaney (Stamullen RC) and Lindsay Watson (PowerHouseSport).
Moore left his effort to get up the road later than the others. He attacked and went after them with MTB champion Gareth McKee (Banbridge CC) for company.
McKee aided Moore but then couldn’t hold him, leaving Moore to make the juncture with the leaders on his own.
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Darnell Moore rides across to the breakaway; Gareth McKee losing the wheel on the incline. Once again U23 rider Moore has shown his worth with a classy ride over the four stages.
Spirit Tifosi riders Marcus Burnett, in the U23 leader's jersey, and Ed Clemens celebrate their team success as they finish 5th and 6th today. Their team won the overall and all four stages.
Every time the riders were given a time check the gap increased, reaching 6 minutes as the stage progressed.
Behind, in the very cold conditions, a three-man chase group had set out after the leaders. That trio was made up of Javan Nulty (North Down(, Toni Ballesterllobera (Team SportActive) and Jordan Peacock (Spirit Tifosi).
When a second larger chase group also got out of the bunch with about 25 miles to go yellow jersey Stanton went after them and caught them. But he was almost seven minutes down at that point.
Up front the attacking started and four of the breakaway got clear; Lindsay Watson, Darragh McCarter, Ed Clemens and Rupert Graham.
They pulled out a gap of about 25 seconds. And at the last climb of the day, on Roguery, Graham attacked and went solo.
Graham continued to power to the finish and his lead went up to two minutes before coming down again a little by the finish.
Stamullen Road Club man Cian Delaney was in the form of his life this weekend. He can win big races with the legs he has now. Pictured here in the breakaway today with Ben Joughlin.
Teenager Conor Gallagher leads the breakaway before he would ride away from them for 3rd place on the day.
Behind him the group had split to pieces; Joughlin was 2nd at 1:42. And Conor Gallagher, the junior rider, had ridden away from everyone else to take 3rd on the stage.
He was 2:43 down on winner Graham, but he was one minute clear of the rest of the original breakaway; an excellent ride especially after three days of very hard racing.
Darragh McCarter was next, exactly one minute behind Gallagher. And two seconds later came a group of five from the breakaway; Clemens, Burnett, Watson, Moore and Cian Delaney.
The result saw Rupert Graham win overall by 3:08 from Burnett, with Moore 3rd at 3:14 and Watson next at 3:25.
Joughlin was next, in 5th place at 3:25, followed by Delaney at 3:57 and McCarter some 6:53 down.
Yellow jersey Stanton ended the stage in 12th at 8:12. And that saw him slip from the raced lead to 8th overall at 7:32.
Lindsay Watson, who enjoyed a fantastic race, took maximum points on two of the four climbs today and was second on the other two. That meant he won the climbers’ classification.
Burnett took the U23 classification from Moore. And Spirit Tifosi won the team classification.
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