You are here: home » news » FBD Ras, Ireland - Stage 4 Update

FBD Ras, Ireland - Stage 4 Update · 21/05/09

Yesterday was a tough stage and a great day for the Rapha Condor team.

The race had hardly left the Neutralized section when the attacks started. Tom Southam managed to get into the first real break of 10 riders which slowly pulled away from the bunch. There were many attempts from small chasing groups to get accross to the leaders, eventually coming together to make a second group of riders 2 mins behind the lead break. Darren Lapthorne was part of this second group.

The Halfords-Bike Hut team were chasing hard to protect leader Ian Wilkinson’s position. After the first two climbs the chase group had inched closer to the leaders while the bunch had slipped back to nearly 5 mins behind. This is when the Rapha Condor race plan came into play as the race approached the feared Cat 1 climb, the Conor Pass.

With the race leader tired from chasing, and his team depleated, there was a flurry of attacks on the climb with lots of riders attempting to get clear including Chris Newton. This split the bunch apart and a group of 22 riders went clear, this now being the 3rd group on the road. This group contained all the Rapha Condor riders apart from Tom who was still battling away at the front of the race.

With the race leader now behind, all of the boys drove this group along, quickly merging with the 2nd group and eventually joining up with the leaders. They continued to stay at the head of affairs pulling the race along at high speed towards the finish line. Into the final kilometre and the sprinters took over with Australian Nic Walker taking the stage win.

For Simon Richardson though it only meant one thing, he could claim the yellow Giro Havik sunglasses to match the yellow leaders jersey he will be wearing during today’s 5th stage.

Along with Simon now race leader, Darren has moved up to 4th overall and Chris has moved up to 7th. The team have again increased their lead in the team competition.

Read the full race report on the Irish Cycling website:
http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_3931.shtml

There are also pictures here:
http://www.fbdinsuranceras.com/event/fbdras_574.shtml

Full results are here:
http://www.fbdinsuranceras.com/uploads/stage_4_results_004.pdf

<  ·  >