CLEMENS FANKHEUSER WON the An Post Rás for the second time in his career this afternoon after clinging to a precarious lead since he took the yellow jersey in Dingle last Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Austrian has been as tough as teak this week as he and his Tirol team resisted attack after attack from many of the race’s biggest names.
The 2014 winner went into today’s eighth and final stage from Kildare to Skerries with just a three-second buffer over Jai Hindley of the Australian national team, while the latter’s team-mate Lucas Hamilton was just 10 seconds further back.
And yesterday’s stage winner Eddie Dunbar of the Irish national team was also lurking with intent in fourth at 19 seconds, closely followed by elite national road race champion Damien Shaw in fifth, some 40 seconds behind.
It all made for a thrilling spectacle this afternoon and the 147-kilometre run was anything but straightforward, with five categorised climbs.
As expected, the attacks came from the drop of the flag with many of those closest to Fankheuser trying their luck in getting into a breakaway. But it wasn’t until a five-man group escaped around the 40-kilometre mark that Fankheuser began to worry.
In the move were Bryan McCrystal (ASEA-Wheelworx), Rob Partridge (Madison Genesis), Conor Dunne (JLT-Condor Cycles), Craig Evers (Pedal Heaven) and Ronan McLaughlin (Irish national team) and they managed to gap the rest of the field with a concerted and sustained effort.
Marc Potts (Neon Velo) made it six out front and they succeeded in pulling almost three minutes clear of the field. Dunne started the day 1’ 34” down overall so he was leader on the road for a spell. However, the chase ramped up behind and only for his presence in the break, the leaders might have had a chance at the stage win.
Alas, when they hit the first of three circuits around Skerries, the margin was halved and the escapees began to lose men and time as the pressure took its toll.
Indeed, with the Tirol team, An Post Chain Reaction and Australia all driving the bunch, the leaders were reeled in with less than 10 kilometres to go, paving the way for a bunch sprint which was won by Nicolas Brochner of Riwal Platform.
He’s already been victorious this week after taking victory on stage four into Sneem and today he had too much in the tank for Taco van der Hoorn (Join-S De Rijke) and Emiel Wastyn (An Post Chain Reaction).
There was no change at the top of the general classification, meaning Fankheuser held yellow for the second time in his life. It’s been anything but straight-forward for him, mind, and he spent much of last Sunday night in hospital after sustaining severe road rash in a crash on stage one.
“I am so thrilled. It was a tough eight days,” he said today. “I had a bad crash on the first stage and I was sore for a few days but my teammates worked hard for me and I hung on in the end.
“It means so much to me to win this race for the second time. The reception and love I receive when I am over in Ireland is incredible. I just want to thank everyone for their support,” he added.
For the second successive year, Ian Richardson (Dublin UCD Fitz Cycles) rode superbly over the eight days and took home the best county rider award.
Jai Hindley (Australian National Team) held the Under 23 jersey from start to the finish and looks a real star for the future, while Aaron Gate (AN Post Chain reaction) won the green points jersey and Nikodemus Holler (Germany Stradalli Bike Aid) comfortably won the King of the Mountains classification.
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