Damien Shaw once again proved one of the strongest men in the Rás field, going clear late on and dropping those he was with as he tried to close in on the two leaders (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
By Brian Canty
Aidis Kroupis has won today’s final stage of the An Post Rás; the An Post Chainreaction man sprinting to a marvellous victory in glorious sunshine before a huge crowd in Skerries.
Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team) won the overall after an assured display of riding from him and his team.
It was the An Post Chainreaction team's fourth stage win of the race today and caps a brilliant week for the Continental-registered squad.
Kroupis was victorious already this week, winning stage four into Bearna on Wednesday while teammate Aaron Gate also bagged a couple of wins on stages two and five.
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And as well as four stage wins they also took second and third on general classification through Josh Edmondson at 1’05” and Ryan Mullen at 2’19”.
Kroupis was also inside the top 10 while the aforementioned Gate was fifth overall.
The former’s win today was arguably the team’s best of the week as today’s eventual winner was in the day’s 12-man break that escaped inside the opening 10 kilometres.
In that break alongside the former Orica-GreenEdge man were Dominic Jelfs (Madison Genesis), Luke Grivell-Mellor (CondorJLT), Matteo Malucelli (Team IDEA), Fraser Duncan (Team ASEA), Ronan McLaughlin (Aquablue), Clemens Fankhauser (Hrinkow Ardvarics), Christophe Steurs (Team 3M), Benjamin L'Hermitte (Team Pays de Dinan), Marc Potts (North Down Graham Powerhouse Sport), Davide Vigano (Team IDEA) and Bryan McCrystal (Team ASEA).
They held a maximum advantage of no more than 90 seconds over the course of the 130-kilometre stage.
But when the bunch closed in approaching Skerries for the first of three 8.5 kilometre laps, Kroupis took flight with Davide Vigano (Team IDEA) and Luke Grivell-Mellor (Condor-JLT).
And when the latter dropped off, Kroupis and Vigano stayed clear, extending their lead to over a minute on the bunch.
Damien Shaw made a brave and successful bid to bridge to them and took 3rd for his efforts, the Team ASEA man clearly finishing the week in some incredible form.
Coming to the line Kroupis and Vigano duked it out but it was the Lithuanian who got the verdict ahead of Vigano and Shaw.
The bunch passes through Kilmessan on the final leg; nice touch by Skane Wheelers with the welcome banner. Maybe it will be the start of a trend by all cycling clubs for future years? (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
How it unfolded
The first escape of the day was a pre-meditated move that saw local man Daragh Campbell get up the road where he passed an enormous group of supporters that came out to greet him in his home town of Donore.
The young Novo-Nordisk rider was completing the race for the first time and despite having type 1 diabetes is doing very, very well.
Campbell was visibly very moved by the gesture of his fellow riders and the throng of people who came out in force with banners and flags to cheer for him.
When he was back in the bunch and the real racing began a break of 12 immediately clipped off the front.
In there were; Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chainreaction), Dominic Jelfs (Madison Genesis), Luke Grivell-Mellor (CondorJLT), Matteo Malucelli (Team IDEA), Fraser Duncan (Team ASEA), Ronan McLaughlin (Aquablue), Clemens Fankhauser (Hrinkow Ardvarics), Christophe Sleurs (Team 3M), Benjamin L'Hermitte (Team Pays de Dinan), Marc Potts (North Down Graham Powerhouse Sport), Davide Vigano (Team IDEA) and Bryan McCrystal (Team ASEA).
With 16 kilometres covered their advantage was less than 20 seconds as the bunch was unhappy by the presence of overall contender Kroupis.
The Lithuanian was almost 10 minutes down overall but the Tirol Cycling Team squad of race leader Lukas Postlberger were taking no chances.
Still, the men out front persisted and they really had to drive things on up ahead to stay away.
Exiting Navan after 20 kilometres the lead had edged over the 30-second mark as Stephen Murray (Cork Strata 3-VeloRevolution) made a futile bid to bridge.
Turning for the hot spot sprint prime at Kilmessan at 35km, the gap had increased further and was now around the one minute mark.
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Kroupis took the sprint prime and as they trucked onwards towards Dunsany, Dunshaughlin and Ratoath the gap had fallen slightly to around 45 seconds.
But the break cranked up a gear prior to the first climb at Newtown and pulled their advantage to over a minute as the team cars were invited up.
It was very much the same at the next drag at Garristown and heading towards Naul at 68km the lead was 1’20”.
Over the third cat climb of the Cage the gap pushed out further but never by enough to remotely challenge the yellow jersey.
Heading onto the 8.5km circuit of Skerries the chase began in earnest as the break began to splinter.
Grivell-Mellor, Kruopis and Vigano pushed on, dropping the rest of the escape as they crested the Black Hills for the first time.
After that the break pretty much went to pieces and were swiftly picked up by a rapidly closing bunch.
The leading trio really put the hammer down and pulled out a lead that reached 50 seconds. And on the second ascent of the Black Hills they were away by over a minute.
Grivell-Mellor found the pace too hot and dropped back as the other two persisted, albeit as the gap began to tumble.
Showing how strong he was, or perhaps wanting to steer clear of any danger, the yellow jersey tried to bridge to the two leaders, as did Damien Shaw (Team ASEA) and Luke Mudgway (Cycling New Zealand).
The latter two closed to within 45 seconds on the final lap and then to 35 seconds as the leading duo maintained their one-minute lead on the bunch led by Lukas Postlberger and his team.
Shaw was clearly motoring as on the run-in for home he dropped the Kiwi rider and went in pursuit of Vigano and Kroupis and got to the back of the two leaders on the line.
Coming to the line Kroupis and Vigano duked it out but it was the Lithuanian who got the verdict ahead of Vigano and Shaw holding on for a brilliant third.
Stage 8: Drogheda to Skerries (132.6km)
1 Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chainreaction) 2:53.27
2 Davide Vigano (Team IDEA 2010 ASD)
3 Damien Shaw (Louth Team Asea) both same time
4 Alex Frame (New Zealand National Team)
5 Matteo Malucelli (Team IDEA 2010 ASD)
6 Jaap de Man (Team 3M)
7 Alexander Cowan (Canada National Team)
8 Alex Minting (Neon Velo Cycling Team)
9 Andreas Hofer (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam)
1, Hugo Robinson (Neon Velo Cycling Team) all same time
Final General Classification
1 Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team) 27 hours 38 mins 39 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 29 secs
6 Jaap de Man (Team 3M) at 5 mins 18 secs
7 Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis) at 6 mins 3 secs
8 Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chain Reaction) at 7 mins 28 secs
9 Alex Frame (New Zealand National Team) at 7 mins 31 secs
10 Ian Richardson (Dublin UCD) at 10 mins 1 secs
Points Classification
1 Aaron Gate (An Post Chain Reaction) 55 points
2 Davide Vigano (Team IDEA 2010 ASD) 54
3 Alex Frame (New Zealand National Team) 52
Mountains Classification
1 Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chainreaction) 31 points
2 Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis) 25 points
2 Robert Partridge (NFTO) 25
U23 Classification
1 Ryan Mullen (An Post Chain Reaction)
2 Jaap de Man (Team 3M)
3 Alex Frame (New Zealand National Team)
County Rider Classification
1 Ian Richardson (Dublin UCD) 27 hours 48 mins 40 secs
2 Sean McKenna (Cork Aquablue) at 6 mins 23 secs
3 Marc Potts (Down Nth Graham Powerhouse Sport) at 10 mins 3 secs
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