Irish county rider Damien Shaw took the fight to the full-time bike riders for the second day in a row on Saturday’s penultimate stage of the An Post Rás, once again riding flat out to try to pick up a stage win and once again netting second.

Showing both confidence and stubbornness after Friday’s close call, Shaw was part of a move soon after the start in Ballinamore and while that was brought back, he got away again just before the summit of the day’s first climb, the third category ascent of Leiter.

Initially combining with four others, three more joined and together these opened a lead of more than four minutes over the main bunch.

After British rider Liam Holohan clipped away towards the end, Shaw made his move inside the final 10 kilometres and bridged across to the Madison Genesis rider. The latter refused to work with him and while Shaw burned up a lot of energy prior to their recapture with five kilometres to go, he was strong enough to finish second to the Austrian Andreas Mueller (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam) in the sprint into Drogheda.

Frenchman Aurelien Daniel (Team Pays De Dinan) was third while, slightly further back, Irishman Conor Dunne finished seventh and Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis) took ninth.

“I’m a little bit disappointed,” Shaw said after the finish. “Obviously after second yesterday I played it a little bit cagier this time. I thought I made a great move getting across to the Madison Genesis guy but the second I got there he sat up.

“I was raging because that was a lot of energy used up.”

Providing he can recover, he has a further opportunity to try again on Sunday’s stage to Skerries.

Overnight race leader Lukas Postlberger was trying to retain yellow but had a serious scare. Very soon after the start he was brought down in a crash and left very sore. Forced to change his bike due to damage to it, he fought on and reached the finish with his main competitors, rolling in as part of the peloton three minutes and 16 seconds back.

The Austrian Tirol Cycling rider was limping, sore and visibly worried, but after receiving a medical examination he confirmed that he could continue.

“I am in good condition. The shape is great,” he said, reassuring himself as much as the journalists talking to him. “I am in a little pain but it is okay. The doctor checked me. Nothing is broken, everything is fine. One more day to go and I am focused. Nobody could take the yellow jersey from me.”

Postlberger was sitting without a jersey and a scar was very visible on his right shoulder. The legacy of an older crash which left him with a fractured collarbone and necessitated the insertion of a plate plus screws, he needed confirmation from the race doctor that no further damage had been done to the area.

Told that nothing serious was wrong, he will start Sunday and has moved a big step closer to taking the final yellow jersey.

The race concludes Sunday with a 132.6 kilometre race from Drogheda to Skerries.

An Post Rás Stage 7, Ballinamore to Drogheda:
1 Andreas Mueller (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam) 142.4 kilometres in 3 hours 9 mins 35 secs
2 Damien Shaw (Louth Team Asea) at 2 secs
3,Aurelien Daniel (Team Pays De Dinan)
4 Alessandro Pettiti (Team IDEA 2010 ASD)
5 Matthew Holmes (Madison Genesis)
6 Steven Lawley (Neon Velo Cycling Team) at 9 secs
7 Conor Dunne (An Post Chain Reaction) at 10 secs
8 Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis) at 17 secs
9 Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis) at 1 min 8 secs
10 Marc Potts (Down Nth Graham Powerhouse Sport) at 1 min 48 secs
11 Tom Barras (NFTO)
12 Seán McKenna (Cork Aquablue)
13 Axel Journiaux (Team Pays De Dinan
14 Simon Ryan (Limerick Mego RT)
15 Ian Richardson (Dublin UCD) all same time

Category three climb of Leiter (km. 55.4):
1 Andreas Mueller 5 points
2 Damien Shaw 4
3 Conor Dunne 3
4 Matthew Holmes 2

Category two climb of Moyer (km 76.6):
1 Liam Holohan 10 points
2 Alessandro Pettiti (Team IDEA 2010 ASD) 8
3 Aurelien Daniel 6
4 Steven Lawley 4
5 Conor Dunne 3
6 Matthew Holmes 1

Category three ascent of Knockaleva (km. 108.7).
1 Liam Holohan 5 pts
2 Aurelien Daniel 4
3 Steven Lawley 3
4 Conor Dunne 2

Post office prime at Drumcondrath: Andreas Mueller (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam)

County rider:
1 Damien Shaw 3 hours 9 mins 37 secs
2 Marc Potts at 1 min 46 secs
3 Seán McKenna
4 Simon Ryan
5 Ian Richardson all same time

Team stage:
1 Madison Genesis, 9 hours 30 mins 12 secs
2 Team Pays de Dinan, 9 hours 33 mins 51 secs
3 Team IDEA 2010 ADS, 9 hours 35 mins 13 secs
4 Hrinkow Advarics Cycling, 9 hours 35 mins 17 secs
5 Neon Velo Cycling Team, 9 hours 35 mins 23 secs

Irish county team:
1 Louth Team Asea, 9 hours 33 minutes 58 seconds
2 Cork Aquablue, 9 hours 35 mins 44 secs
3 Down Nth Graham Powerhouse Sport, 9 hours 37 mins 5 secs
4 Dublin UCD, 9 hours 37 mins 5 secs
5 Meath DID Electrical, 9 hours 38 mins 33 secs

General classification after stage seven:
1 Lukas Postlberger (Tirol Cycling Team) 24 hours 44 mins 44 secs
2 Joshua Edmondson (An Post Chain Reaction) at 1 min 5 sec
3 Ryan Mullen (An Post Chain Reaction) at 2 mins 19 secs
4 Robert Partridge (NFTO) at 3 mins 10 secs
5 Aaron Gate (An Post Chain Reaction) at 4 mins 29 secs
6 Jaap de Man (Team 3M) at 5 mins 18 secs
7 Martyn Irvine at 6 mins 3 secs
8 Alex Frame (New Zealand National Team) at 7 mins 31 secs
9 Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chain Reaction) at 7 mins 56 secs
10 Ian Richardson at 10 mins 1 secs
11 Sebastian Schonberger (Tirol Cycling Team) at 11 mins 42 secs
12 Conor Dunne at 11 mins 54 secs
13 Davide Vigano (Team IDEA 2010 ASD) at 12 mins 42 secs
14 Clemens Fankhauser (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam) at 12 mins 59 secs
15 Christophe Steurs (Team 3M) at 13 mins 44 secs

Points:
1 Aaron Gate 50
2 Lukas Postlberger 50
3 Jaap de Man 41
4 Alex Frame 40
5 Davide Vigano 40

Mountains:
1 Liam Holohan 25 points
2 Robert Partridge 25
3 Mark Dowling (Meath DID Electrical) 19
4 Joshua Edmondson 13
5 Ryan Mullen 11

Young rider:
1 Ryan Mullen 24 hours 47 mins 3 secs
2 Jaap de Man at 2 mins 59 secs
3 Alex Frame at 5 mins 12 secs
4 Sebastian Schonberger at 9 mins 23 secs
5 Nick Bain (New Zealand National Team) at 11 mins 32 secs

County rider:
1 Ian Richardson 24 hours 54 mins 45 secs
2 Sean McKenna at 6 mins 23 secs
3 Marc Potts at 10 mins 3 secs
4 Ronan McLaughlin (Cork Aquablue) at 10 mins 56 secs
5 Bryan McCrystal (Louth Team Asea) at 12 mins 2 secs

Cycling Ireland category two:
1 Gary Sheehan (Dublin Bikeworx) 25 hours 31 mins 7 secs
2 David Coughlan (Cork Strata3/Velorevolution RT) at 10 mins 35 secs
3 Marcus Flavin (Waterford Dungarvan Minnies) at 13 mins 43 secs
4 Keith Hughes (Dublin Bikeworx) at 16 mins 29 secs
5 Derek Cunningham (Dublin Bikeworx) at 21 mins 11 secs

Team:
1 An Post Chain Reaction, 74 hours 15 mins 43 secs
2 Tirol Cycling Team, at 20 mins 57 secs
3 Madison Genesis, at 21 mins 50 secs
4 Team 3M, at 21 mins 51 secs
5 Team IDEA 2010 ASD, at 28 mins 38 secs

Irish county team:
1 Cork Aquablue, 75 hours 5 mins 25 secs
2 Down Nth Graham Powerhouse Sport, at 12 mins 41 secs
3 Louth Team Asea, at 18 mins 7 secs
4 Meath DID Electrical, at 45 mins 2 secs
5 Dublin UCD, at 58 mins 40 secs