Picture Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Roscommon’s Daire Feeley has retained the Blue Jersey for the top Irish County Rider for the third day following today’s six stage of the An Post Rás which finished in Dungloe.
Feeley finished 16th in the stage, sits 15th place overall and fifth in the Under 23 category.
In terms of the stage overall Yannis Yssaad (France Armée de Terre) attacked late to claim the win. The 23-year-old sprinted to the line to give the French team their first stage win of the week.
Yssaad had the legs to edge out stage one winner Nicolai Brøchner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) who finished second and green jersey holder (points classification) leader Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling) in third. Stage four winner Matthew Teggart (An Post Chain Reaction) came home best of the Irish in seventh place.
Day six of the race took the riders south of Dungloe through craggy mountains and sweeping fields. At 132.1 kilometers, the stage was the second shortest of the week but by far the hilliest, featuring seven categorised climbs and one An Post prime at Dunkineely.
Six riders went clear early on, including stage winner from 2016, Eoin Morton (Ireland National Team) and two Irish county riders, Cormac McGeough and Christopher McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster). The first categorised climb of the day at Loughnambradden (Cat Three) went to Eoin Morton but as expected, the hills shuffled up the order with the peloton catching up with the leaders to establish a lead group of fifty riders.
Coming up to the second categorised climb, it was here that Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) broke away to make his mark on the mountains, going clear on the climb of Glengesh (Cat One), Altclogh (Cat Three), Maeenavaghran (Cat Two), Cashling (Cat Three) and Kilcar (Cat Three). His superb climbing ensured he finished the day as King of the Mountains.
With 20 kilometres to go and the peloton following Kasperkiewicz on the climbs, an attack from Sean McKenna (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) and Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling) saw the race heat up. McKenna took the An Post prime at Dunkineely while Jonas Jørgensen claimed the final climb of the day at Drumbeagh (Cat Three). It was a true sprint to the line, with a big chase group full of fire power, able to fight to the end. In the final stages, it was Yannis Yssaad who had the legs to take the win.
The performances of Daire Feeley have helped his team to hold sixth place in the Irish County Team category.
Regular updates and action footage of this year’s An Post Rás are available on www.anpostras.ie, twitter.com/anpostras and facebook.com/anpostras