Damien Shaw went so, so close to a stage win on the An Post Rás today but had to be content with the runner up prize (Photo: Ger Cusack)
By Brian Canty
Damien Shaw went desperately close to landing a stage win at the An Post Rás today but came up metres short following an absolutely thrilling 160 kilometres of racing from Ballina to Ballinamore.
The Team ASEA man was edged out of victory by Ian Bibby (NFTO) while Ed Laverack (Condor JLT) rounded out the podium for third.
That trio broke clear of the 13-man break that escaped inside 15 kilometres today and built a maximum advantage of over five minutes.
They worked extremely well together when they escaped off the front as they only had a lead of around 25 seconds for around 15 kilometres.
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The slightly uphill finish was to Shaw’s liking but the Mullingar man came up a whisker short of a fast-finishing Bibby.
It’s an absolutely brilliant ride from Shaw who has had a very difficult injury-ravaged year and has some consolation in taking the county rider prize.
The other big story of the day was the battle for yellow, with Ryan Mullen still keeping the Irish flag flying.
The An Post Chainreaction man finished in the same time as the race leader Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team) and is still 2’19” down overall. His teammate Josh Edmonson is still second at 1’05”
All other jersey wearers retained what they started with today; Ian Richardson (UCD CC) still has the overall county jersey, Mullen has the U23 white jersey and Rob Partridge (NFTO) is still in the mountains jersey.
Mark Dowling took 4th today but will be kicking himself he allowed three men up the road (Photo: John Coleman - DC Images)
How it unfolded
The longest stage of this year’s An Post Rás saw the riders travel east from Ballina to Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
Given the furious racing of the previous few days in the west with the number of general classification contenders tumbling it was seen as a day where a break could potentially stay away to contest the finish.
With that in mind, plenty of county men tried to get up the road early. Peter Hawkins was among those particularly aggressive from the outset.
The former yellow jersey wearer announced this would be his last year racing this week and was keen to bow out of the race on a high.
He managed to clip off the front prior to the first climb of the day and was quickly joined by Conor Dunne (An Post Chainreaction), Marco Tizza (Team IDEA), Ed Laverack (Condor JLT), Sean MacKinnon (Canada National Team), Christophe Sleurs (team 3M) and Ian Bibby (NFTO).
That seven were soon joined by six more, with Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis), Damien Shaw (Team ASEA), Mark Dowling (DID Electrical Dunboyne), Jimmy Durrin (Neon Velo CT), Rhys Lloyd (NFTO) and reigning champion Clemens Fankheuser (Hrinkow Advarics) bridging across.
Dowling has been quiet so far this week – notwithstanding an untimely puncture yesterday that cost him a place in the lead group.
But he made up for that by attacking all the categorised climbs.
He took top points over the opening cat 3 at Drumsheen and by that stage the group’s lead was nigh on a minute as the peloton were satisfied no major general classification threat was present.
The gap swelled between the first and second climbs and with around 25 kilometres of the stage completed the gap was over two minutes.
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That margin continued to swell and sensing they’d have a chance of getting across Sean Lacey (Aquablue) and yesterday’s man of the day Simon Ryan (Mego Racing team) tried.
Alas it wasn’t to be for them and they took sanctuary in the bunch.
After 50 kilometres the gap was up to over three minutes with those up front tapping through nicely.
And still the gap went out, stretching to over five minutes but with the aforementioned Sleurs best-placed at 13 minutes overall it never prompted panic from the yellow jersey-led group behind.
Then gap began to decrease as the kilometres ticked down; a combination of a few trying to escape off the front and some hard roads and strong winds making life difficult.
The final two climbs of the day – a cat 3 and a cat 2 - saw the breakaway splinter slightly, with Lloyd, Hawkins, Durrin and Sleurs tailing off the back.
Mark Dowling showed he was on a good day by taking top points on the cat 2 but he’ll have been sickened to miss the move that broke off the front thereafter.
Shaw clipped away with Laverack and Bibby and they worked very hard to forge a slight lead.
Their gap never went over 25 seconds but they stayed honest inside the remaining 20 kilometres and on the twisting roads inside 10k to go they were still away and working well.
Behind, the remaining chase group riders from the original breakaway tapped through but never got back on terms.
Further back the main jerseys - yellow, green, white and mountains - were all doing their best to stay out of trouble.
With 5km to go and the leading trio were still together with a 15 second lead and on the fast tailwind finish it was anyone’s race.
Conor Dunne (An Post Chainreaction) tried to get across but never succeeded but it mattered little as Bibby just about nicked it on the line despite a powerful surge from Shaw. Laverack rounded out the podium.
Stage 6: Ballina to Ballinamore
1 Ian Bibby (NFTO) 160.1 kilometres in 3 hours 35 mins 47 secs
2 Damien Shaw (LOUTH Team Asea)
3 Edward Laverack (JLT Condor) both same time
4 Mark Dowling (MEATH DID Electrical) at 21 secs
5 Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis)
6 Clemens Fankhauser (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam)
7 Marco Tizza (Team IDEA 2010 ASD)
8 Conor Dunne (An Post Chain Reaction)
9 Sean MacKinnon (CANADA National Team)
10 Rhys Lloyd (NFTO) all same time
General Classification
1 Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team) 21 hours 31 mins 53 secs
2 Joshua Edmondson (An Post Chain Reaction) at 1 min 5 secs
3 Ryan Mullen (An Post Chain Reaction) at 2 mins 19 secs
4 Robert Partridge (NFTO) at 3 mins 10 secs
5 Aaron Gate (An Post Chain Reaction) at 4 mins 32 secs
6 Jaap de Man (Team 3M) at 5 mins 21 secs
7 Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chain Reaction) at 7 mins 29 secs
8 Alex Frame (NEW ZEALAND National Team) at 7 mins 34 secs
9 Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis) at 7 mins 44 secs
10 Sebastian Schonberger (Tirol Cycling Team) at 11 mins 11 secs
Points Classification
1 Aaron Gate (An Post Chain Reaction) 50
2 Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team) 50
3 Jaap de Man (Team 3M) 41
Climbers' Classification
1 Robert Partridge (NFTO) 25 pts
2 Mark Dowling (MEATH DID Electrical) 19
3 Joshua Edmondson (An Post Chain Reaction) 13
U23 Classification
1 Ryan Mullen (An Post Chain Reaction) 21 hours 24 mins 12 secs
2 Jaap de Man (Team 3M) at 3 mins 2 secs
3 Alex Frame (NEW ZEALAND National Team) at 5 mins 15 secs
County Rider Classification
1 Ian Richardson (DUBLIN UCD) 21 hours 43 mins 22 secs
2 Sean McKenna (CORK Aquablue) at 5 mins 52 secs
3 Ronan McLaughlin (CORK Aquablue) at 8 mins 57 secs
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