Teggart in dreamland after seizing yellow on Rás queen stage
Michael Storer punches the air in celebration after winning today's fourth stage of the An Post Rás in Buncrana, Co Donegal (Photo: Inpho)
By Brian Canty
Michael Storer of the Australian National Team has won the queen stage of this year’s An Post Rás.
But the day belongs to young Matt Teggart of the An Post Chain Reaction team after he took the yellow jersey.
The 21-year-old Irishman was a doubt for the race a month ago after breaking his elbow.
And he even missed his flight to Ireland a day before the event started on Sunday.
But on a truly brutal 151-kilometre fourth stage this afternoon he put all that to one side and did enough to take the coveted jersey from the shoulders of overnight Dennis Bakker (Delta Cycling Rotterdam).
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It's a huge milestone for Teggart and the An Post Chain Reaction team and one that could not come at a better time for the Continental outfit.
It will cease to exist under current title sponsor in 2018, with An Post announcing last week it was departing cycling.
Teggart finished fourth on today's stage, 1'26" behind the winner. But that was more than enough to take the yellow jersey.
Storer (20) soloed to victory in Buncrana after jumping clear of a small group of riders on the fifth and final climb; the cat 1 Mamore Gap.
He has been one of the most talked about riders in Australia in recent years. He medalled at the UCI World Championships in the junior men’s time-trial in 2014 to announce his potential.
He was a first-year junior back then and since then his stock has risen steadily.
Matt Teggart looking happy and fresh in the An Post Rás yellow jersey. He leads at the halfway point.
This year looks to be something of a breakout year for him and he started the year in stunning fashion with second in the Herald Sun Tour and 15th overall in the Tour Down Under.
He’s been victorious in big one-day races in Italy in recent weeks.
And he was victorious again today in Ireland, winning a first An Post Rás stage and moving right into contention for the general classification.
Today, he had around a minute to spare on runner-up American Jacob Sitler of CCB Velotooler with Morgan Kneisky (Armee de Terre) in third.
Storer is also the new king of the mountains leader.
Teggart leads the U23 classification, Bakker the points classification and Daire Feeley leads the county rider category.
How it unfolded
The 151-kilometre stage from Bundoran to Buncrana featured a total of five climbs. It had been billed as the day when the race for the general classification would really take shape.
Heading north through Ballyshannon and Laghey the race would arc its way into Donegal town, Ballybofey and Letterkenny before the start of the day’s first climb, the 2.8-kilometre category three Maghera Beg after 80 kilometres.
The similarly-categorised Slavery Hill was next after 112 kilometres. That was followed by the category two Old Mountain (120 kilometres) and then Pinch Mountain (122.7 kilometres), another category two.
But it was the inclusion of Mamore Gap that everyone had been talking about since the route was announced earlier in the year.
As it came just 14 kilometres from the finish it was always going to be decisive. But that didn’t exactly lend itself to a quiet start today as the riders stormed out of Bundoran.
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The break of the day featured Waterford man Marc Flavin (Newry Wheelers), Gruffud Lewis (Madison Genesis), Monday’s stage winner Jan Willem Van Schip (Delta Cycling Rotterdam), Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw (An Post Chain Reaction), Dexter Gardias (Bike Channel Canyon UK), Joey Walker (Britain Team Wiggins) and Yannis Yssaad (France Armee de Terre).
Their gap quickly stretched to a minute and they had clear daylight by the 73-kilometre mark, though with plenty of racing still to go.
With the general classification still congested with potential winners it was hardly surprising to see the yellow jersey of Dennis Bakker and his Delta Cycling Rotterdam team at the head of the peloton chasing.
By the 80-kilometre mark the gap to the leaders had stretched to two minutes as the strong tailwind aided their cause significantly.
And closer to 100 kilometres they were 2’30” ahead of the bunch and doing a very, very good job.
At the top of the second climb the gap between break and bunch was chopped to just 1’30” as the heavy Donegal roads really began to hurt.
Behind, the bunch was getting cut back with less than 60 riders left by the time it reached the summit of Maghera Beag after 112 kilometres.
Flavin, the only county rider in the break, was first to buckle up front. However, he put in a spectacular ride on the hardest stage of the race so far.
He is in his third An Post Rás and is clearly in great form, getting up the road with some really talented bike riders.
His departure left six leaders out front but not for long as the peloton ramped up their speed and caught the break. That led to a fresh round of attacks all over again.
It was truly savage at this point as the riders rode up the third climb of the day at a ferocious pace.
And it was 27-year old Jake Sitler of CCB Racing and Michael Storer (Cycling Australia) who moved clear, the latter taking top points over the summit of Pinch Mountain.
An Post-Chainreaction’s Przemyslaw, who started the day 2’42” down, was clearly motoring as he managed to bridge to the two leaders.
He then helped them build an initial lead of 45 seconds on the yellow jersey group of Bakker.
Starting the Mamore Gap they were two minutes clear of a chase group. The yellow jersey was a further 45 seconds back and the remainder of the peloton over three minutes down.
Storer, meanwhile, was flying and opted to go solo on the brutal Mamore Gap. He started the day 3’03” down so was very keen to try and claw that deficit back.
Behind in the chase was Thomas Rostollan (Armee de Terre) with yesterday’s stage winner Matt Teggart (An Post Chain Reaction) as well as a flying Mark Dowling (Strata3/VeloRevolution).
The latter would take fourth on the climb behind the three leaders Storer, Sitler and Przemyslaw.
Storer was clear with 10 kilometres to go but he was being closely stalked by Sitler. The pursuer was doing his best to close the 30-second deficit, while Przemyslaw was a further 40 seconds back.
But it was the young Australian who held on for a memorable victory.
Sitler did really well to nab second and Morgan Kneisky (Armee de Terre) emerging from the chase group behind to nab third.
Stage 4: Bundoran-Buncrana (151km)
1, Michael Storer (Australian National Team) 3 hours 18 mins 49 secs
2, Jacob Sitler (USA CCB Velotooler) at 1 min 23 secs
3, Morgan Kneisky (France Armee de Terre) at 1 min 26 secs
4, Matthew Teggart (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction)
5, Jonas Aaen Jargensen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling)
6, Daan Meijers (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam)
7, Joe Evans (Britain Madison Genesis)
8, Ziga Rucigaj (Slovenia ROG Ljubljana)
9, Mark Downey (Ireland National Team)
10, Cameron Meyer (Australia National Team) all same time
General Classification
1 Matthew Teggart (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) 12 hours 56 mins 24 secs
2 Troels Ronning Vinther (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling)
3 Ike Groen (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam)
4 Jonas Aaen Jargensen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling)
5 Damien Shaw (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction)
6 James Gullen (Britain JLT Condor) all same time
7 Ziga Rucigaj (Slovenia ROG Ljubljana) at 19 secs
8 Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam) at 55 secs
9 Morgan Kneisky (France Armee de Terre) at 1 min 2 secs
10 Daire Feeley (Galway Team iTap) same time
Points Classification
1 Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam) 36 points
2 Matthew Teggart (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) 27
3 Christopher Latham (Britain Team Wiggins) 25
Mountains Classification
1 Michael Storer (Australia National Team) 26 points
2 Gruffudd Lewis (Britain Madison Genesis) 20
3 Jacob Sitler (USA CCB Velotooler) 20
Young Rider Overall
1 Matthew Teggart (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) 12 hours 56 mins 24 secs
2 Ziga Rucigaj (Slovenia ROG Ljubljana) at 19 secs
3 Daire Feeley (Galway Team iTap) at 1 min 2 secs
County Rider Overall
1 Daire Feeley (Galway Team iTap) 12 hours 57 mins 26 secs
2 Philip Lavery (Tipperary Panduit) at 15 secs
3 Simon Ryan (Cork Strata3 / VeloRevolution) at 1 min 17 secs
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