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Dyble Takes Stage Seven, Gallagher Seizes Yellow Jersey
By
May 24, 2008, 19:54
Finishing in a group 48 seconds behind the day’s winner Wojciech Dybel (Poland national team), Irish rider Stephen Gallagher regained the yellow jersey he held earlier this week and looks poised to take the 2008 FBD Insurance Rás when it finishes in Skerries tomorrow.
The 27 year old’s Ireland An Post. M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team had a superb day, placing Benny de Schrooder and Paídi O’Brien in an early fourteen-man move before he and Daniel Lloyd successfully bridged across with sixteen others. Gallagher had started the day second overall and the rider who was ten seconds ahead of him, race leader Simon Richardson (Britain Plowman Craven), missed the break. So too did the other riders in the top five, namely Ciarán Power (Ireland Pezula Racing), David McCann (Ireland national team) and Chris Newton (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk).
Roger Aiken (Ireland national team), who had started sixth overall, made it into the first move and was at that point race leader on the road. However Gallagher had started the day one minute and 42 seconds ahead of him and so once his group joined with those at the front, he knew he was riding back into the yellow jersey he had lost on Tuesday.
“It really couldn’t have gone any better,” said Gallagher after the stage. “Our tactic last night was pretty much how it ended up. Obviously with a four-man team it would be very difficult to try and control the race, but I think we did a great job today. We sent two guys up the road and obviously the danger was Roger being there.
“I think the worst case scenario was that we were going to leave Benny or Paídi up there to try to take the yellow jersey [from Aiken] coming towards the finish. It was quite stop-start in the bunch behind and eventually Dan [Lloyd] jumped away. I said I’d try to get across to him and then the two of us could ride together and try to get across to the front break.
It was a textbook display of strategy. “It’s not often that these tactics work out but today it went perfectly. We went across and when we got up to Paídi and Benny, we had three in the front including myself. The team rode an unbelievable race. To come across to the front break, Daniel Lloyd was riding into a headwind at 45 or 50 kilometres an hour. I was struggling to hold his wheel; he closed a two minute gap practically on his own. Then when we hit the climbs Paídi and Benny rode tempo on the hills and controlled it the whole way. I knew I had to watch riders like Roger and [Dean] Downing, but it was really good team-work.”
Wojciech Dybel (Poland national team), Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis) and Sayed . M. Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Ahad University) broke clear on the day’s final climb of Drumgoff, going on to fight it out for the stage win between them.
Points leader Dean Downing led in Gallagher’s group 48 seconds later, with Irish riders Paul Griffin (Ireland national team), Paídi O’Brien (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) and Simon Kelly (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) taking fifth, seventh and tenth.
After a very frustrating day early on, David McCann had a strong ride to get clear of the main bunch, catch and pass the group of yellow jersey Simon Richardson and finish five minutes and 21 seconds back. Richardson was seven minutes 18 seconds down.
The upended general classification saw Gallagher end the day one minute and 42 seconds ahead of Aiken, with Rob Partridge (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recyling.co.uk) a further second back.
Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven) is one minute 45 seconds down in fourth place while Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Ahad University) is an additional ten seconds behind.
The 2008 FBD Insurance Rás concludes tomorrow with a 130 kilometre stage from Newbridge to Skerries. The riders will encounter four third-category climbs but it is unlikely that Gallagher’s rivals will be able to recoup the necessary time to cause one more surprise in what has been a very unpredictable week of action.
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FBD Insurance Rás (2.2), May 18 – 25
Stage seven, Clonmel – Roundwood:
1, Wojciech Dybel (Poland national team) 177 kilometres in 4 hours 51 mins 49 secs
2, Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis)
3, S. M. Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Ahad University) both same time
4, Dean Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) at 48 secs
5, Paul Griffin (Ireland national team)
6, Kieran Page (Ireland Pezula Racing)
7, Paídi O’Brien (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
8, Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest)
9, Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly)
10, Simon Kelly (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations)
11, Abbas Saeidi Tanha (Iran Islamic Ahad University)
12, Amir Zargari (Iran Islamic Ahad University)
13, Wouter Sybrandy (Britain Surrey Racing League)
14, Renaud Pioline (France Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur)
15, Martin Grashev (Bulgaria Nessebar) all same time
KOM category three at Glenbower (14.6 km):
1, Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thorton Sean Kelly) 5
2, David McCann (Ireland national team) 4
3, Wouter Sybrandy (Britain Surrey Racing League) 3
4, Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis)
KOM Cat 1 at Slieve Maan (148.1km):
1, Kil Gilham (Britain Kinesis) 15
2, S. Mostafa Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Azad University) 12
3, Stian Remme (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 10
4, Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 8
5, Stephen Gallagher (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 6
6, Amiz Zargari (Iran Islamic Azad University) 5
7, Martin Grashev (Bulgaria Nessebar) 3
KOM Cat 1 at Drumgoff (155.4km):
1, Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis) 15
2, S. Mostafa Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Azad University) 12
3, Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 10
4, Paídi O’Brien (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 8
5, Stephen Gallagher (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 6
6, Morten Hegreberg (Norway Sparebanken Vest) 5
7, Wojciech Dybel (Poland national team) 3
County rider:
1, Simon Kelly (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) 4 hours 52 mins 37 secs
2, Stephen O’Sullivan (Meath MyHome.ie/BDBC) at 4 mins 33 secs
3, Neill Delahaye (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) same time
Cotter Hoose CI second category rider:
1, Stephen Surdival (Dublin Dundrum Town Centre) 5 hours 5 mins 20 secs
2, Mark Power (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) at 39 secs
3, Michael Storan (Kildare Newbridge) at 1 min 29 secs
4, Ciarán Lewis (Dublin McNally Swords) at 2 mins 39 secs
5, Richard McCauley (Kildare Murphy Surveyors) at 4 mins 57 secs
General classification after seven stages:
1, Stephen Gallagher (Ireland An Post. M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) 27 hours 11 mins 1 sec
2, Roger Aiken (Ireland national team) at 1 min 42 secs
3, Rob Partridge (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recyling.co.uk) at 1 min 43 secs
4, Alex Higham (Britain Plowman Craven) at 1 min 45 secs
5, S. M. Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Ahad University) at 1 min 55 secs
6, Wojciech Dybel (Poland national team) at 2 mins 30 secs
7, Dean Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) at 2 mins 40 secs
8, Kieran Page (Ireland Pezula Racing) at 2 mins 47 secs
9, Benny de Schrooder (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) at 3 mins 1 sec
10, Paídi O’Brien (Ireland An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly) at 3 mins 5 secs
11, Amir Zargari (Iran Islamic Azad University)
12, Dale Appleby (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) both same time
13, Renaud Pioline (France Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur) at 3 mins 8 secs
14, Martin Grashev (Bulgaria Nessebar) at 3 mins 12 secs
15, Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis) at 3 mins 29 secs
Points:
1, Dean Downing (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 62 points
2, Mateusz Komar (Poland national team) 41
3, Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven) 39
4, Ciarán Power (Ireland Pezula Racing) 39
5, Wojciech Dybel (Poland national team) 36
Mountains:
1, Kit Gilham (Britain Kinesis) 81
2, S. M. Razaei Khormizi (Iran Islamic Ahad University) 53
3, Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven) 41
4, Patrick Kos (Netherlands national team) 38
5, David O’Loughlin (Ireland Pezula Racing) 32
Under 23:
1, Dale Appleby (Britain Stena Line Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) 27 hours 14 mins 6 secs
2, Martin Grashev (Bulgaria Nessebar) at 7 secs
3, Maurice Schreurs (Netherlands) at 7 mins 50 secs
4, Ole Quast (Germany Stevens von Hacht) at 16 mins 12 secs
5, Farshad Salehian (Iran Islamic Ahad University) at 18 mins 52 secs
(more results later)
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