An Post Ras - a quick rundown

I'll give a quick rundown of each stage, what happened and results. Might chuck a few pictures in there too. The Ras was an 8-day Tour, covering most of Ireland from Dublin down. 1247km, with rain, wind and even a bit of sun.

For reference, Dream = Marc Ryan, Gatey = Aaron Gate, Novie = Shane Archbold, Cam = Cam Karwowski

Stage 1 - Flat stage, all 5 of us were up the front with 10km to go, unfortunately race was stopped with 5km to go due to crash, basically it was a f**k up, Dream didn't see the front again after the race was started. We ended up being 1 man short for the sprint lead out, and Novie got 4th.

Stage 2 - Super windy day, Cam was in break, caught after main climb with 50km to go. Attacks went, I was in front group with Gatey, Novie rode across with yellow jersey in cross/head wind. with 30km to go, bunch was 22 riders, 5 riders attacked, including Novie and yellow jersey. Yellow got dropped, Novie gets 2nd in stage, moves into Yellow race leaders jersey. 2 riders from our group attacked in final km, I won bunch sprint for 7th.

Stage 3 - Break goes with Gatey in it, the rest of the boys can relax. Break stays away, Gatey gets 8th and moves into Under23 leaders jersey. Novie looses yellow to eventual tour winner, Gediminas Bagdonas. Me and Novie finished in 2nd group.

Stage 4 - Fairly cold, windy day. Over 3 hills, one category one climb. Race split on the climb, Novie and Gatey in front group. Bagdonas wins the bunch sprint over Novie. Me and Dream roll in groupetto, easy day for us.

Stage 5 - I was in front group of 6 riders, attacked the group with 3km to go and managed to hold on too win the stage by 4 seconds. (Big description of the stage below, in last post!)

Stage 6 - A big group went, with all of the top contenders. Gatey and Novie were in the front group, protecting Gatey's U23 Jersey, and Novie in the Points jersey, looking to take the lead over Bagdonas. But because Bagdonas was also in the yellow jersey, Novie wore the Sprint jersey most of the week, as he was 2nd rider in this competition (at the time). Novie finished 10th in uphill finish. I finished in big groupetto, I didn't have a general classification position to defend.

Stage 7 - Novie attacked with 7 other riders, at one stage getting 4 minutes on the peloton. An Post, the team of the yellow jersey, chased it down as Shane was now leader of the race (on the road, if the race was to stop when the lead group had 4mins, Novie would now be in the yellow jersey). I got set up for the sprint, getting 3rd in the front bunch, with one rider from the break away staying away. 4th place for me.

Stage 8 - The final day! We had to defend Gatey's U23 jersey, and also defend/extend Novie's lead in the Sprint jersey. We did just that, Novie got 2nd in the stage, that being his 3rd, 2nd place in a stage in the tour. We all finished in this front group, with Gatey successfully defending his jersey, and Novie securing his Sprint jersey.

So all in all a awesome week for us at the Ras. We won 2 jerseys, a stage, three 2nd places, two 4ths, and numerous top 10's!

Cheers to the BikeNZ support staff, couldn't have done it without you.

Next up - Thurigen Rundfhart U23 Tour in Germany, one of the biggest race's in Europe for U23 riders.

Cheers

Sancho