After giving overnight leader Eoin Morton the slip very, very late in the day; Mark Dowling, above, is the 2015 Amber Green Energy Tour of Ulster champion (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
Mark Dowling has won the AmberGreen Energy Tour of Ulster after a pulsating final stage of the race this afternoon.
The DID Electrical Dunboyne rider trailed overnight leader Eoin Morton by three seconds this morning but has wrestled the race leader’s pink jersey from the UCD CC man in thrilling circumstances.
The hilly 110-kilometre stage was always going to favour a punchy climber like Dowling but he also had to fend off the dozen or so other challengers who were within striking distance of pink.
Roger Aiken (Team ASEA) won the stage with a late attack from a group of five.
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And as the peloton came barrelling in from behind Dowling did enough to gap Morton and those behind him to take the win.
Dowling has now won the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, the Suir Valley Three-Day and the Tour of Ulster.
Incredibly, in all of those races he's only won one stage; that coming on the final day of the Suir Valley last year.
Losing out today is a bitter pill for Morton to swallow though.
He told stickybottle last night he felt he wouldn’t hold onto the jersey but he was determined to make those with ambitions to take it from him work hard.
He and his teammates rode a near-perfect race today, shutting down as much as they could.
And those attacks came straight from the gun.
There were 36 riders within two minutes of Morton and 16 within a minute so for him to control it with such a small team was always going to be difficult.
The bunch well strung out on the final stage of a testing weekend's racing (Photo: Jerry Rafferty)
To give Morton his credit, instead of being reactive he was pro-active, attacking the field as often as he could.
Former teammate Sean McKenna (Irish Development Team) at 1:02 was aggressive from the outset, though his thoughts were more trained on the KOH jersey and he proceeded to have a right battle with yesterday’s stage winner Ed Laverack (Cheshire JLT Condor) for that honour.
McKenna took the first KOH from his British counterpart and that narrowed the gap between them to eight points; the Irishman trailing 44 to 55.
The first move of the day saw Bryan McCrystal (Team Asea), Ian Richardson (UCD CC), Morgan Smith (Subaru Team Albion), Wouter Sybrandy (Velo Cafe Magasin), Edward Laverack (Cheshire JLT Condor), Daire Feeley (Team iTap), Marc Potts (CTC Tomac) and Taylor Johnstone (CTC Tomac) go clear.
And they managed to pull out a lead of around 30 seconds but with Sybrandy 19 seconds off the jersey Morton went in pursuit and successfully closed that one down.
Laverack was again to the fore on the next KOH, mopping up maximum points to extend his lead to 18 points over McKenna.
Another large group broke off the front after around an hour of racing. It included Robin Kelly (Waterford Racing Club), Dante Carpenter (Cheshire JLT Condor), Edward Laverack (Cheshire JLT Condor), Martyn Irvine (Irish Development Team), Taylor Johnstone (CTC Tomac), Pete Anderson (Scotland Cycling Team), Ian Richardson (UCD), Greg Swinand (Team Aqua Blue), Damien Shaw (Team Asea), Angus Fyffe (CTC Tomac), Tord Andre Sundhagen (AAA Cycling Team) and Ronan McLaughlin (Carn Wheelers).
Morton again went in pursuit but to his frustration, was tagged by the peloton while another handful joined those up front.
Prior to that escape, McKenna took the third KOH from his Irish teammate Mark Downey but Laverack was there again in third, while he also took points at the intermediate sprints, underlining his aggression all weekend.
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Up ahead the break continued to swell in numbers with Downey (Irish Development Team), Chris Reilly (So Cycles), McKenna (Irish Development Team), David Hamilton (North Down CC), Morgan Smith (Subaru Team Albion), Dave Watson (North Down CC), Fraser Duncan (Team Asea), Wouter Sybrandy (Velo Cafe Magasin), Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles Omagh), Jack Barrett (Scotland Cycling Team), Ryan Reilly (Lucan CRC) and Ali McAuley (Team Asea) joining it.
Their lead hovered around half a minute for a spell before it was eventually reeled in; lack of cooperation from those in it meant it was still advantage Morton.
Ed Laverack of JLT-Condor couldn't get the leader's jersey, but he was 3rd overall and won the climbers', points and U23 classifications in what was a great weekend (Photo: Jerry Rafferty)
The king of the mountains classification was also being keenly contested, with Sybrandy taking the points atop the fifth KOH of the day. But Laverack was once again right up there, taking second place and that was enough to see him secure that jersey.
By that stage Laverack had amassed 77 points with McKenna on 64 and Sybrandy one less on 63.
McKenna did take top points on the sixth and final climb of the day – and Laverack got none but the latter still held on; McKenna coming up four points short.
Meanwhile, approaching the bell lap, Damien Shaw and Roger Aiken (both Team Asea), McKenna, Downey (both Irish Development Team) and Robin Kelly (Waterford Racing Club) clipped away and they were chased by five more.
Irvine was in that chase group of five and being only 30 seconds off the jersey, Morton was sprung into action as the margin increased to over 40 seconds.
Irvine's group was caught but Kelly still remained a threat up the road.
Under the 10 kilometre to go sign and it was 45 seconds and inside 5 kilometres to go the margin was back to 26 seconds.
Shaw mustered up a late would be stage-winning attack but when he was reeled in his teammate Aiken went and he immediately got away and hung on for the stage.
But behind, what remained of the peloton was splitting in the atacking for the overall win and by riders trying to bridge to the breakaway just up ahead.
And when a five-man group formed off the front of the bunch in the very closing stages, dangerman Dowling was in it along with Tord Sundhagen (AAA Cycling), Peter Hawkins (CTC Tomac), in-form Dave Watson (North Down CC), Ronan McLaughlin (Carn Wheelers) and Wouter Sybrandy (Velo Cafe Magasin).
Up ahead, Aiken would hang on for a great win that suggests he is approaching his usual Rás form; crossing the line five seconds ahead of a very impressive 18-year-old Mark Downey.
Kelly was 3rd, McKenna 4th and Shaw 5th; all on the same time as Downey.
A further 13 seconds would elapse before Dowling and the four men he was with crossed the line, all on the same time.
Then came the crucial count; how far was race leader Morton back in what remained of the bunch?
The answer was; 24 seconds down on the stage winner and six seconds down on the Dowling group.
It meant the DID Dunboyne man had clawed back his three second deficit and put another three seconds into Morton to take the race outright.
More later.
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