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Cassidy Wins Stage 7 Of FBD Ras, Wetterhall Holds Yellow
By
May 29, 2010, 20:13
Irish rider Mark Cassidy (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) had an excellent showing on stage seven of the FBD Insurance Rás, going clear in a break ten kilometres after the start in Gorey, and then pushing on ahead with Jakob Steigmiller (Germany Thuringer Energie) on the first category climb of Drumgoff.
The two held the advantage on the similarly-ranked Wicklow Gap and had approximately a minute to spare at the finish in Kilcullen. There, Cassidy proved much stronger in the sprint, taking the first FBD Rás victory of his career. It also marks his return to success in the race, two years after he crashed out heavily while wearing the yellow jersey.
“I’m happy, very happy,” he said after the stage. “Crossing the line, I was in complete shock and couldn’t really believe it. It was such a strange moment but it is starting to settle in now.
“You could say it is a big relief…I think this is my seventh Rás. I’ve tried so hard every year but hadn’t really won anything in the race. To finally get it is a really nice feeling.”
Cassidy and Steigmiller were out front for a long, long time and when the general classification battle heated up behind, it looked like they could be caught. However they remained focussed and the gap started to go up again, ensuring that the stage win would be decided between the two of them.
“I knew the decisive moment would be the first climb,” he explained. “The German guy pushed on there so I just stayed with him. At first I was trying to take the KOH [King of the Hills] points so that the Swedish guy with us wouldn’t take it off David O’Loughlin. But then we got a good gap…he was strong and I was quite strong as well, and we worked quite well.
“It looked like we were going to get caught with 25 kilometres to go as the gap came down to a minute, but we had a bit more left in the tank. We just gave it everything to the finish. He got a bit of jump on me in the sprint, but I think for once I wasn’t nervous. I had great confidence. He got the jump but I knew it was uphill and I just went as hard as I could to get after him. I came around him in the last 100 metres or so, I was really happy.”
Part of the satisfaction he feels is because the race has always had a big link to his family. His father Philip is a two-time winner of the event, and Cassidy junior grew up watching his victorious performances in it.
It is the second stage win for the An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly squad this week; Mayo rider David O’Loughlin won stage three.
Overnight leader Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden Team Sprocket) had a tough day today, being under attack from all of his main rivals, but he has retained the yellow jersey. At times he was distanced slightly, but he was able to fight his way back on each occasion.
“I am really happy with the day, except that I was left alone in the last 25 kilometres. Our team worked in the beginning and everyone worked fine until the first climb, then after that I was more or less left alone. It was hard in the last 25 kilometres when everybody in my 20-25 man group attacked me.
“The most dangerous riders were the Motorpoint guy [Peter Williams] and [Dan] Craven from Rapha Condor. They were the strongest ones that were attacking. But the other ones, the Sean Kelly and the Thuringer guys are really strong as well, so I had a rough day today.”
Wetterhall said that he was gapped on the second climb, that of Wicklow Gap, but was able to fight back on after about a kilometre. “I thought I could catch them at the top…I did it and that was great,”
Maximillan May (Germany Thuringer Energie) and Wouter Sybrandy (Britain Sigmasport Specialized) were third and fourth, 47 and 50 seconds back respectively, while John Degenkolb (Germany Thuringer Energie) led home the chase group one minute and three seconds after Cassidy. Irish riders David O’Loughlin and Connor McConvey (both An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) took tenth and fourteenth, and Wetterhall also finished in this group.
The most notable abstentee was Josef Kugler (Austria Arbö KTM-Gebrüder Weis), who started the day eight seconds off the race lead in second overall. He cracked and lost five minutes and 36 seconds. Williams is consequently the closest to Wetterhall now, but is 59 seconds back.
Craven is third overall, a minute and a half behind, while McConvey is one minute 45 seconds back in fourth overall.
The final stage of the race tends not to produce large time gaps and so Wetterhall is looking good for the final overall win. However he is taking nothing for granted. “Tomorrow is a hard stage as well. So we have to do it well in the team, have good team-work,” he said. “Then we can take the jersey for the whole Tour.”
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FBD Insurance Rás, Ireland (2.2, May 23 – 30)
Stage 7, Gorey – Kilcullen:
1, Mark Cassidy (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 151 kilometres in 3 hours 43 mins 48 secs
2, Jakob Steigmiller (Germany Thuringer Energie) at 2 secs
3, Maximillan May (Germany Thuringer Energie) at 47 secs
4, Wouter Sybrandy (Britain Sigmasport Specialized) at 50 secs
5, John Degenkolb (Germany Thuringer Energie) at 1 min 3 secs
6, Peter Williams (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta)
7, Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp)
8, Pieter Ghyllebert (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
9, John McEvoy (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta)
10, David O'Loughlin (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) all same time
Overall classification after seven stages:
1, Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro) 21 hours 31 mins 9 secs
2, Peter Williams (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta) at 59 secs
3, Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp) at 1 min 32 secs
4, Connor McConvey (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) at 1 min 45 secs
5, Jon Tiernan-Locke (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp) same time
6, Rob Partridge (Wales) at 1 min 49 secs
7, Pieter Ghyllebert (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) at 2 mins 4 secs
8, Joseph Lewis (Australia Drapac Porsche) at 2 mins 9 secs
9, John Degenkolb (Germany Thuringer Energie) at 2 mins 19 secs
10, Maximillan May (Germany Thuringer Energie) at 3 mins 41 secs
Under 23:
1, Connor McConvey (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 21 hours 32 mins 54 secs
2, Joseph Lewis (Australia Drapac Porsche) at 24 secs
3, John Degenkolb (Germany Thuringer Energie) at 34 secs
Points:
1, John Degenkolb (Germany Thuringer Energie) 53
2, Peter Williams (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta) 50
3, Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp) 46
4, Wouter Sybrandy (Britain Sigmasport Specialized) 38
5, Pieter Ghyllebert (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 37
King of the mountains:
1, Mark Cassidy (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 57
2, David O'Loughlin (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) 57
3, Fredrik Johansson (Sweden - Team Sprocket Pro) 54
4, Simon Richardson (Britain Sigmasport Specialized) 42
5, Jakob Steigmiller (Germany Thuringer Energie) 39
(provisional results - for full, verified results see home page)
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