Sean McKenna clenches his fist and lets out a roar of delight at winning stage 6 of the Rás into Carlow. He joins an exclusive club of Irish riders to claim a stage victory since the race secure UCI status (Photo: Bryan Keane – Inpho)
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By Graham Gillespie
Sean McKenna of Holdsworth Pro Cycling was the first to cross the line in Carlow following a chaotic day of racing.
McKenna took the concluding sprint ahead of Switzerland’s Claudio Imhof and points leader Luuc Bugter (Delta Cycling).
It was the Dublin rider’s biggest career win and caps an incredible few years for him. Despite not hitting his stride as a top rider relatively late, he secured a place at An Post-Chainreaction mid way through 2016.
He rode for that team during all of last year. And at the end of the campaign was selected for the Irish elite team at the World Road Championships.
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And then he went and rode in the breakaway; something of a dream scenario for a man riding amateur races a little over a year earlier.
Today he’s notched another big milestone, joined a very small group of Irish riders to win a stage of the race since it secured UCI ranking.
Today’s stage 6 was a tough day for many competitors, as the five climbs in the second half of the race devastated the peloton.
Not for the first time in this year's Rás, a break almost made it all the way to the finish.
However, the group which contained Irish riders Marc Potts (Ireland), Philip Lavery (Strata3 VeloRevolution) and Fintan Ryan (Leinster) would finally be caught in the final kilometre.
Potts, however, would still have something to be happy about as he managed to grab fifth in the final sprint.
Sean O’Malley (Galway Gerry McVeigh) was also in this break but dropped back earlier in the race.
Matteo Cigala was the best placed county rider for the fifth time this year after he finished sixth. Fellow Viner-Caremack-Pactimo rider Ronan McLaughlin also had a good day in the saddle.
The county jersey holder moved up to eighth place in the general classification. More generally, most of the race jerseys stayed where they were at the start of the day.
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Switzerland’s Cyrille Thiery kept the yellow jersey while Robbe Ghys (Belgium) is still the u-23 leader.
The KOM jersey has a new owner now though, as Jelly Belly’s Ulises Alfedo Castillo Soto replaces Lukas Ruegg (Switzerland) after an impressive day of climbing.
Damien Shaw (Holdsworth) remains in the third and is still the highest placed Irishman in the general classification.
How Rás stage 6 unfolded
Stage 6 from Mitchelstown to Carlow had 140 starters this morning, after a number of dropouts including Benjamin Wolfe (Jelly Belly) who was fifth in the general classification.
The 154.6-kilometre course had five climbs in the last 50km of the race including a cat 1 at Gurteen. After 50 kilometres of quiet racing, six riders made a move at the front.
Four Irish riders were in this break: Marc Potts (Ireland), Philip Lavery (Strata-3VeloRevolution), Fintan Ryan (Leinster) and Sean O’Malley (Galway Gerry McVeigh).
The English duo of Russell Downing (Holdsworth) and Andy Turner (KTM) were the other two riders.
These six would soon be joined by two chasers in Jelly Belly’s Ulises Alfedo Castillo Soto and Wales’s James Tillet.
The group stretched out their lead quickly and held a 3:36 lead over the peloton after 75 kilometres. A chasing group also went from the peloton shortly after the leaders broke.
This group included three county riders namely David Brennan (Castlebar), Matthew Sparrow (Panduit) and Kieran Regan (Dublin St Tiernan’s).
Sam Tillet of Wales and Timothy Mitchell USA CCB were also in this chasing pack. All of these riders would eventually drop back into the peloton.
By the time the leaders reached the climbs, their lead had been reduced slightly by the peloton. However, they still held a respectable lead of 3:08.
The first climb was a cat 3 with Castillo crossing first followed by James Tillet and O’Malley.
When the front group approached the second cat 3 climb, the peloton had cut the gap by nearly a minute. Castillo would take this climb as well ahead of Tillet and Turner.
For Tillet, these would be his last KOM points of the day as he lost touch with leaders on the day’s toughest ascent at Gorteen.
The Gorteen climbs also caused havoc in the peloton, splitting it into several groups. O’Malley would also drop back leaving Potts, Downing, Turner, Ryan, Lavery and Castillo at the front.
Castillo took the final KOH of the day which was enough to get him the KOH jersey. With 20 kilometres left, they held a 40 second lead over the yellow jersey group.
Turner would be next to fall back, leaving five riders left. These five fought bravely together and managed to have a 30 second lead coming into the last five kilometres.
Even as the race hit the 1km left mark, they still had a 50-metre lead. However, some strong chasing by Delta Cycling in the yellow jersey group meant the chasing pack finally bridged the gap.
A chaotic finish ensued with Sean McKenna of Holdsworth bursting from the yellow jersey group to streak to victory.
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