Damien Shaw came within two seconds of taking the yellow jersey at the An Post Rás in Clonakilty this afternoon. The An Post-ChainReaction rider started the day 29 seconds down overall and made a brave bid for the race lead. Alas, overnight leader Clemens Fankheuser and his Tirol team did just about enough to preserve it (Photo: David Pintens)
By Brian Canty
Damien Shaw and Eoin Morton came within a whisker of the yellow jersey as well as claiming stage glory on day five of the An Post Rás in Clonakilty this afternoon.
Shaw began the day 29 seconds down on overnight leader Clemens Fankheuser (Austria Tirol Cycling team) but was in most moves of the day today in an effort to shake off the 2014 winner and wear yellow for the first time in his career.
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He was away early on in a move that also featured Eddie Dunbar (Ireland national team) but the main escape of the day was when he bridged across to a six-man chase group and later joined two leaders Conor Dunne (JLT-Condor Cycles) and Ike Groen (Join-De S Rijke).
Also in that chase group were Sean Lacey and Sean McKenna (both Aquablue), Ronan McLaughlin (Irish national team), Wouter Mol (Join-De S Rijke), Marc Potts (Neon Velo), Troels Ronning-Vinther (Denmark Riwal Platform), Sean McKenna (Aquablue) and the inspired Eoin Morton (UCD-FitzCycles).
They had 1'40" on the bunch inside 15 kilometres to go but a mechanical for McKenna took him out of contention and it was back to 10 leaders.
Matt Holmes (Madison Genesis) started the day level on time with Shaw and he tore across the gap to join those out front and suddenly, there were two men tied on time racing for yellow.
Alas, the break split approaching Clonakilty for the first lap of the town and on the second (and final) circuit the chasers ramped up the pace and really trimmed own the leaders' advantage.
And just when it looked Shaw (or Holmes) would take yellow, the Tirol team did enough to limit their losses and Fankheuser stayed in yellow for another day.
Aaron Gate (An Post Chain Reaction) finished the day in the green jersey as leader of the points classification while Bryan McCrystal lost the KOH jersey to Niko Holler (Bike Aid).
Morton took the best county rider prize while his teammate Ian Richardson still leads that overall.
Jai Hindley (Australia national team) still leads the U23 classification but 16 seconds behind in third is Ireland's Eddie Dunbar.
How it unfolded
Today’s fifth stage of the race took the riders 148 kilometres from Sneem to Clonakilty in west Cork, two years since it last hosted a stage finish of the race.
Back then, that stage from Caherciveen was won by Marcin Bialablocki riding for Velosure Giordana Racing team and he would later go on to finish seventh after what was the decisive split of the week.
And something broadly similar was expected today as the riders faced five categorised climbs including the Caha Pass after 44 kilometres.
The riders in An Post Rás Stage 5 climb the Caha Pass on the road from Sneem to Clonakilty (Photo: Morgan Treacy - Inpho)
That ensured a lively start to proceedings as one after another tried to get clear.
The first move of the day was one stacked with county riders and showing their aggression this time were the Irish team pair of Chris McGlinchey and Matt Teggart, Sean McKenna and Sean Lacey (both Aquablue), Philip Lavery (ASEA-Wheelworx), Ike Groen (Join-S De Rijke), Cathal Moynihan (Kerry) and Harrison Jones (Britain Pedal Heaven).
That move was given absolutely no rope at all and they were back in the bunch before they pulled out any significant advantage.
Damien Shaw (An Post Chain Reaction) and Mark Dowling (ASEA-Wheelworx) were next to try and escape but with the former so high up on GC and the latter improving day by day, they too were reeled in, though Shaw did persist.
His cause was helped when six riders bridged across to him, those being Daire Feeley (iTap), Scott Thomas (Australia), Conor Dunne (JLT-Condor Cycles), Oliver Maxwell (Neon Velo) and Ronan McLaughlin (Ireland national team).
Liam Stones (Madison Genesis) and Ed Laverack (JLT-Condor Cycles) swelled the group even further but they really had to battle hard to get any kind of a gap, especially as Shaw was still up the road and the peloton were not keen to let him out of sight.
Still, those nine leaders came to Kenmare before the start of the Caha Pass with half a minute and Craig Evers (Australia) tried to make it 10 up front when he took off on a lone chase.
Alas, that group were reeled in before the Caha Pass started and because of that chase, the main peloton began to badly fragment.
There was no pause for breath when the recapture was made because Eddie Dunbar launched a stinging acceleration to go clear, taking Shaw, his teammate Emiel Wastyn, Josh Edmondson (NFTO), the aforementioned Dunne, Rasmus Mygind (Riwal Platform), Mathieu Converset (Aix en Provence) and Robert De Greef (Join-S De Rijke).
Sensing they would be caught Dunbar jumped clear by himself and led things up the Caha Pass while the chase to drag him back resulted in plenty more being spat out the back door.
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Riders wait for the start of the fifth stage of the An Post Ras from Sneem to Clonakilty (Photo: Ryan Byrne - Inpho)
The descent saw a regrouping of sorts and entering Glengarriff it was Matteo Cigala of the Cork Aquablue team who took the Post Office Prime.
It’s been a mighty week for the former Italian international and he’s been one of several county men to really get stuck in.
Dunbar was clearly going well as he attacked on the next climb outside Glengarriff, though it didn’t have the desired effect with nobody bridging to him.
He did take top points on that climb, however.
Shay Elliott Memorial champion Marc Potts (Marc Potts) was next to get up the road and though David McCarthy (JLT-Condor Cycles) and Martin Weiss gave chase they were reeled in and Potts trucked on solo.
Three riders tried to bridge to him but they, along with Potts were back in the bunch just outside Bantry after around 70 kilometres of racing.
Next to go on the attack were McGlinchey, George Fowler (NFTO) and De Greef and they were soon joined by the flying Dunbar, Florent Castellarneau (Aix en Provence) and Thomas Moses (JLT-Condor Cycles).
But yet again, the bunch led by the team of yellow jersey wearer Clemens Fankhauser were unhappy with that and they pegged the move back with a strong tempo.
But as the race edged towards the 100-kilometre mark the fatigue began to tell as Conor Dunne (JLT-Condor Cycles) escaped with Ike Groen (Join-S De Rijke) and they immediately got a gap of 20 seconds.
Sean Lacey (Aquablue) jumped out of the bunch to give chase while going after him were Ronan McLaughlin (Irish national team), Troels Ronning (Denmark Riwal Platform), Eoin Morton (UCD-FitzCycles) and Sean McKenna (Aquablue).
Dunne and Groen were flying and soon had a minute on the bunch with the chasing five labouring a little at 45 seconds.
The gap to Dunne and Groen dipped above and below the minute mark while the chasing group became six when Potts stormed across to it.
Six became eight when Shaw and Wouter Mol (Join-S De Rijke) joined and that new formation went in hunt of Dunne and Groen with more purpose.
With the extra legs, the chasers managed to bridge to make it nine up front and with less than 40 kilometres to go they had a minute on the bunch, meaning Shaw was now the virtual leader on the road as he started the day just 29 seconds down.
So, up front were Shaw, Lacey, Potts, McKenna, Groen, Dunne, McLaughlin, Ronning, Mol and Morton and with 30 kilometres to go they still had one minute on the yellow jersey.
Matt Holmes (Madison Genesis) put in the ride of his life to bridge across and now there were 11 leaders. And with Holmes on the same time as Shaw it set up a nailbiting last 10k.
The gap began to swell for the leaders and with less than 18k to go they had almost 1’30”.
And of the 11, seven were Irish.
Inside 15k to go and they’d pulled out 10 more seconds to lead by 1’40” – a very healthy buffer so late in the race.
Disaster struck for McKenna when he had a mechanical and as well as his own chances of a stage win disappearing, those of Lacey’s also took a hit as he’d have been a perfect foil.
The 10 up front were racing full-tilt at this stage, so much so that they split up badly as the kilometres ticked down.
Making the front split were Shaw and Holmes, both of whom started the day 29 seconds down on GC while Dunne, Morton, Mol and Ronning-Vinther were also there.
Inside the final six kilometres and they had 30 seconds on the remainder of the break (Lacey, Potts, Groen and McLaughlin).
And with four kilometres to go the latter five were scooped up by the bunch with the leaders 45 seconds clear.
The bunch ramped up the pace as they approached Clonakilty, clearly sensing there were two riders up ahead who could potentially take yellow.
Inside three and two kilometres to go and the gap began to tumble but the break held on and it was Wouter Mol of the Dutch Join-S De Rijke squad who took the win , his team’s second of the week so far after Taco van der Hoorn won on Sunday’s opening stage.
Troels Ronning-Vinther (Riwal Platform) was next with Morton rounding out the podium.
Conor Dunne was fourth across the line, Shaw fifth and Mark Downey took a brilliant ninth some 27 seconds back.
Provisional results at end of stage 5
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