CYCLING: AN UPHEAVAL in the general classification. That's the only way to describe yesterday's sixth stage of the FBD Insurance Rás, which saw race leader David McCann (Ireland) and second-placed rider Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) bumped down into fourth and fifth overall after a storming effort by a small group of riders.
Ireland Pezula Racing competitor Ciarán Power showed he was on the road to recovery from a chest infection when he soloed to a great win at the end of the 180km leg to Clonmel. He beat Christer Rake (Norway Sparebanken Vest) by three seconds, with Stephen Gallagher (Ireland An Post M Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) six seconds down and Simon Richardson (Britain Plowman Craven) plus Andrew Roche (Isle of Man Microgaming Dolan) a further second behind.
Richardson, stage winner in Skibbereen 24 hours earlier, deposed McCann and took over the yellow jersey. Former race leader Gallagher moved to second overall, 10 seconds back, while Power jumped to third, one minute and one second down.
McCann and Newton are a further 45 seconds in arrears and, while they are still theoretically in contention, it will take a massive effort on the remaining two stages to recoup the lost time.
"I am absolutely thrilled," said Power, responding to the stage-long effort initiated by 10 riders. "I could not be any happier. Coming into the race I should have had good legs but I have been sick for the past five days with bronchitis. Thankfully now I have got an inhaler and it helps with my breathing. There are two hard days left and I feel a lot better. If I recover from today you'll never know what will happen."
New race leader Richardson was beaming, even if he is now under a lot of pressure. "This is kind of my first yellow jersey - I won the Bikeline Two-Day, which is a Premier Calendar race, but it was an orange jersey there. So it was not as nice as yellow.
"I can climb pretty well," he stated, when asked about his chances on today's tough mountain stage from Clonmel to Roundwood. "Obviously it is the seventh stage and I have had to spend some beans already this week. If it was a one-day race I know I would be fine, but we will have to wait and see. I'll do my best."
Gallagher has 10 seconds to make up and will do what he can today. "I've been feeling pretty good on the climbs so we'll see how things go," he said.
Their move went almost immediately after the drop of the flag and, despite chasing behind by the Ireland and Britain Stena Line teams of McCann and Newton, those up front continued to pull clear.
Together with Eugene Moriarty (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC), Seán Lacey (Dublin Eurocycles), Paul Healion (Dublin McNally Swords), Cameron Jennings and Derek Burke (both Ireland Pezula Racing), they established a maximum lead of over six minutes; this proved too much for those in the peloton to overcome, thus leading to yet another big reshuffling.
