One year after he took stages four and eight in the race, Nicolai Brochner Nielsen clocked up his third career win in the An Post Rás with victory in Longford. The Dane flew under the radar to some extent during the stage, with confusion over the name displayed on his UCI racing licence leading to him being listed as Nicolai Nielsen on the official start sheet, as opposed to Nicolai Brochner.
That may have initially led to a little less urgency in the chase when he went up the road with several others during the 146.1 kilometre leg, but he soon underlined his quality with the strength of his riding and, later, when he was quickest into the finish. That win ensured he collected the first yellow jersey of the race, and leads the overall standings heading into Monday’s second leg.
“After we got away I was worried that we were going to get caught but I think about halfway through the stage the field kind of gave up on the chase. We increased the speed in the front so that resulted in quite a significant gap. We started believing in going all the way. We just kept pushing to the line.
“At the end, I started thinking that I had to make sure that we stayed together as I knew I was going to be one of the fastest guys in the sprint. It was really tactical – I had the front going around the last corner and I just slowly increased the speed. With about 200 metres to go I just went with everything I had. I knew that was the point where I could go full speed the whole way. Thankfully it worked out.”
Brochner Nielsen outsprinted Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam), Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) and Thómas Rostollon (France Armée de Terre) to the line, with Christopher Latham (Britain Team Wiggins) leading in the main bunch 16 seconds back. Robert-Jon McCarthy (Britain JLT Condor) was best of the Irish in sixth place.
The day’s break formed over an hour after the race rolled out of Dublin Castle, with the Polish rider Kasperkiewicz clipping away in Trim, some 40 kilometres after the official start. He is with the Irish-sponsored An Post Chainreaction team, for which the race is always a major priority. He was soon joined by Rostollon and Bakker, with Brochner Nielsen, Alexandre Blain (Britian Madison Genesis) and the Irishman Chris McGlinchey bridging at kilometre 50.
These worked well together to build a maximum lead of over four minutes. An Irish quartet of Marc Potts (Britain Neon Velo Cycling Team), Seán Lacey (Cork Aqua Blue Sport), Simon Ryan (Cork Strata3 / VeloRevolution) and Richard Maes (Kerry Killarney) tried to get across and closed to one minute, but were unable to make the junction despite a very long chase.
These were eventually recaptured by the accelerating bunch, while McGlinchey and Blain lost contact inside the final 25 kilometres. The leading quartet had enough oomph to hold off the peloton, with Brochner Nielsen taking the gallop and reminding everyone of his quality.
With two flat stages to come, he may well be able to show off his sprint again, although he’s not certain how he will fare on the tougher climbs later in the race. For now, though, he’s in yellow, he’s motivated and he plus his team are hunting more stage wins.
As for McGlinchey, he’s hoping to ride well overall. Even though he was recaptured by the bunch, he picked up three seconds in time bonuses and sits sixth overall.
“The goal is just to go with the general classification and see how we are positioned,” he said. “Try not to lose any time in the next couple of days. Anything can happen with crashes and wind and stuff, but I am feeling good. I will see what happens on stage four, it will be quite a decisive stage. I have been climbing quite well recently, so I am looking forward to the mountains.”
An Post Rás (2.2):
Stage 1, Dublin to Longford: 1, Nicolai Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 146.1 kilometres in 3 hours 16 mins 49 secs; 2, D.
Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam); 3, P. Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction); 4, T. Rostollon (France Armée de Terre); 5, C. Latham (Britain Team Wiggins) at 16 secs; 6, R.J. McCarthy (Britain JLT Condor); 7, S. Weemaes (Belgian National Team); 8, J.
Willem Van Schip (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam); 9, S. Poulhies (France Armée de Terre); 10, M. Cigala (Cork Aqua Blue Sport); 11, A.
Tennant (Britain Team Wiggins); 12, Y. Yssaad (France Armée de Terre); 13, N. Granigan (USA CCB Velotooler); 14, I. Bibby (Britain JLT Condor); 15, M. Mulhern (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam) all same time
Intermediate sprints:
An Post Hot Spot Sprint in Athboy (km 53.9): 1, Nicolai Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 3 secs; 2, A. Blain (Britain Madison
Genesis) 2 secs; 3, C. McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster) 1 sec
An Post Hot Spot sprint at Oldcastle (km. 78.8): 1, Alexandre Blain (Britain Madison Genesis) 3 secs; 2, C. McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster) 2 secs; 3, P. Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) 1 sec
An Post Hot Spot sprint at Granard (km. 120.2): 1, Alexandre Blain (Britain Madison Genesis) 3 secs; 2, N. Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 2 secs; 3, P. Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain
Reaction) 1 sec
King of the mountains primes:
Category three climb of Lough Crew (km 73.6): 1, Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam) 5pts; 2, T. Rostollon (France Armee de Terre) 4; 3, C. McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster) 3; 4, N. Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 2
City North County rider: 1, Matteo Cigala (Cork Aqua Blue Sport) 3 hours
17 mins 5 secs; 2, P. Lavery (Tipperary Panduit); 3, E. Moriarty (Down
Newry) both same time
Team (non-county): 1, Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam, 9 hours 50 mins 59 secs; 2, France Armée de Terre; 3, Denmark Riwal Plaform cycling; 4, Ireland An Post Chainreaction, all same time; 5, Belgian National team, 9 hours 51 mins 15 secs
Irish county team: 1, Cork Aqua Blue Sport, 9 hours 51 mins 15 secs; 2, Galway Team iTap; 3, Down Bikehouse; 4, Mayo Castlebar Unit 7; 5, Antrim Phoenix, all same time
General classification: 1, Nicolai Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 3 hours 16 mins 34 secs; 2, D. Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam) at 9 secs; 3, P. Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) same time; 4, T. Rostollon (France Armée de Terre) at 15 secs; 5, A. Blain (Britain Madison Genesis) at 23 secs; 6, C. McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster) at 28 secs; 7, C. Latham (Britain Team Wiggins) at 31 secs; 8, R.J. McCarthy (Britain JLT Condor); 9, S. Weemaes (Belgian National Team); 10, J. Willem Van Schip (Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam); 11, S. Poulhies (France Armée de Terre); 12, M. Cigala (Cork Aqua Blue Sport); 13, A. Tennant (Britain Team Wiggins); 14, Y. Yssaad (France Armée de Terre); 15, N. Granigan (USA CCB Velotooler) all same time
Points classification: 1, Nicolai Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 15 points; 2, D. Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling
Rotterdam) 14; 3, P. Kasperkiewicz (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) 13; 4, T. Rostollon (France Armée de Terre) 12; 5, C. Latham (Britain Team
Wiggins) 11
Mountains competition: 1, Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling
Rotterdam) 5pts; 2, T. Rostollon (France Armee de Terre) 4; 3, C.
McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster) 3; 4, N. Brochner Nielsen (Denmark Riwal Platform Cycling) 2
Under 23 rider: 1, Sasha Weemaes (Belgian National Team) 3 hours 17 mins
5 secs; 2, N. Granigan (USA CCB Velotooler); 3, Z. Jerman (Slovenia ROG Ljubljana); 4, G. Thijssen (Belgian National Team); 5, T. Finkst (Slovenia ROG Ljubljana) all same time
Irish county rider: 1, Christopher McGlinchey (Cycling Ulster) 3 hours
17 mins 2 secs; 2, M. Cigala (Cork Aqua Blue Sport) at 3 secs; 3, P.
Lavery (Tipperary Panduit); 4, E. T Moriarty (Down Newry); 5, M. Shannon (Limerick Newcastle West / Rockwell) all same time
Cycling Ireland category 2: 1, Jonathan Caulfield (Mayo Castlebar Unit
7) 3 hours 17 mins 5 secs; 2, C. Nachtigall (Antrim Phoenix); 3, R.
Costelloe (Limerick Newcastle West / Rockwell); 4, G. Dunne (Meath
Navan) all same time; 5, B. Cady (Leitrim Velo Cafe Magasin) at 17 secs
Team overall: 1, Netherlands Delta Cycling Rotterdam, 9 hours 50 mins 59 secs; 2, France Armée de Terre; 3, Denmark Riwal Plaform cycling; 4, Ireland An Post Chainreaction, all same time; 5, Belgian National team, at 16 secs
Irish county team: 1, Cork Aqua Blue Sport, 9 hours 51 mins 15 secs; 2, Galway Team iTap; 3, Down Bikehouse; 4, Mayo Castlebar Unit 7; 5, Antrim Phoenix, all same time.
