Simpson triumphs in Blarney

After two second places in four days the New Zealand National Team finally got the victory they were craving for when Myron Simpson took the fifth stage of the An Post Rás.

The young Kiwi made an opportunist attack from a long breakaway close to the finish line and he managed to hold off the peloton, which finished just behind. There was no change to the yellow jersey, or the top five placings, as Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post Sean Kelly) finished ninth. He remains top of the overall classification, with Olexsandr Sheydyk (Ukraine ISD Lampre) second and Nikolay Mihaylov (France AVC Aix en Provence) third.

The stage had started with a bang as several riders were involved in a crash and stage one winner Dean Downing (Rapha Condor Sharp) was also disqualified for holding onto his team car. Prior to the crash the first major break of the day came about after fifteen kilometres when twelve riders went clear. The group included Bagdonas’ team mate Mark Cassidy, though he was later called back into the main bunch to help with the chase of the break.

After 62 kilometres they had been reeled in, but no sooner had they been caught two riders, Lachlann Norris (Australia Drapac Cycling) and David O’Loughlin (Waterford Comeragh), broke free. They were then joined by the eventual race winner, Simpson, Johannes Kahra (Germany Thuringer Energie), Dean Windsor (Rapha Condor Sharp) and Tobyn Horton (Britain Motorpoint).

The six riders forged on and built up a gap of over four minutes. Sensing they needed to do something quickly the An Post Sean Kelly team, led by Bagdonas, responded and by the time the leaders came over the final climb at the Windy Gap the lead was reduced to 1:45.

Australian Norris was the first of the leading group to attack around 25 kilometres from home. He managed to stay out front until 4 kilometres from the line, with the peloton closing in behind. Then with less than 3 kilometres to go Simpson boldly decided to make his move; much to his team’s delight he held on to take the stage by four seconds to the chasing peloton, which had absorbed all of the break bar Horton.

Twenty year old Auckland native Simpson expressed his joy at winning the stage, especially as his teammate Shane Archbold had been narrowly denied two stage victories.

"There were a few little attacks and the bunch was coming so I put my head down with three kilometres to go and thankfully I stayed ahead. I’m delighted; this is my biggest win from my first race on the road this year."

"Shane (Archbold) has been unlucky, he’s been close, so it’s great to get the stage win for the team."

Stage six sees the riders depart from Blarney in the morning and travel 172 kilometres along Ireland’s south coastline to the stage finish in Tramore, County Waterford. Bagdonas is looking increasingly confident especially after his team’s strong performance today.