Degenkolb bests Craven in Gorey

Double Tour de Bretagne stage winner John Degenkolb (Germany Thuringer Energie) took his third win of the year when he sprinted to victory at the end of the sixth stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Gorey. A big group containing yellow jersey Alex Wetterhall (Sweden - Team Sprocket) and all of the other contenders came in 50 seconds later.

The 21-year-old led home former race leader Dan Craven (Britain Rapha Condor Sharp)at the end of the 127 kilometre leg, which was the shortest of the race but crossed seven categorised climbs. Both riders active on several occasions during the stage and then joined up together in the closing kilometres to build a strong lead.

"It was a very good stage for me and my team," the German rider said. "We did some very good work today and in the end we got the win. The hills today were very hard. The first category climb was a four kilometre mountain. I had good legs today, my team too. They made the pace and then I attacked, going away with Dan Craven and winning the sprint."

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Craven said that they tried to split things up going over the category one climb of Corabutt, but that other teams wouldn't work. He was then active towards the end, attacking twice and then getting into the decisive move.

"On the second last King of the Mountains, I was in a small break and then jumped away from them as they were caught, going away on my own," he said. "Then I realised, 'hey, maybe I am feeling better than I think I am, or maybe everyone else is feeling worse than I am feeling.'

"I realised that I wasn't going anywhere on my own as there was a bit of a headwind, so I sat up. The bunch caught me, and then on the last King of the Mountains, I saw John Degenkolp go straight from the bottom. Everyone around him wasn't really going, so I just gave it my all and got across to him.

Stephen O'Sullivan (Meath Engraveit.ie/Jade.ie) was best Irishman in eleventh, while Connor McConvey (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) also finished in the same time and is top home rider in seventh overall.

His team-mate David O'Loughlin had a very strong performance on the stage, going clear early on with last year's winner Simon Richardson (Britain Sigmasport Specialized) and Wetterhall's team-mate Fredrik Johansson after approximately 30 kilometres of racing.

The Mayo rider took top points on four of the day's seven climbs, underlining his strength when he rode away from the other two on the first category Corabutt, and bolstered his lead in the King of the Mountains classification. He now has a 15 point advantage over Richardson and will aim to win that competition over the weekend.

The trio stayed clear until 30 kilometres from the end, being caught just before Carnew, and from there Craven and Degenkolb ramped up the pace and went on to fight it out for the stage win. Others tried to get across to them but were unable to do so. Wetterhall was composed at the end of the stage, knowing that neither rider was close enough to take yellow. However he admitted to being under pressure with 30 kilometres to go.

"A big group went away and as I was on the front myself at the time, I couldn't close it down. My team had done a lot of work before that and they were pretty cooked. I was up there for a few minutes, just chasing, chasing, chasing." However a team-mate returned and helped him get back in touch.

"There are more mountains tomorrow, and so I hope it goes well," he said. His closest rivals are Josef Kugler (Austria Arbö KTM-Gebrüder Weis), who is eight seconds back, and Peter Williams (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta), a further second behind. Craven's effort today moves the former race leader up to fifth overall, while Degenkolb progresses to twelfth. In all there are nine riders within two minutes of the yellow jersey.

Two stages remain including tomorrow's tough 151 kilometre race from Gorey to Kilcullen, and with the race being so notoriously difficult to control, there is still plenty of racing ahead. "It's hard to say who is the biggest threat, as there are a lot of strong riders here," he said.

"Of course I am worried about the guys who are next to me. There are two more days and everybody reacts differently on these stage races. Some guys might have good legs tomorrow, some may not. We will see."

Saturday's seventh stage travels over some of the toughest roads in Wicklow. Four categorised climbs are lying in wait, including the cat 1 Drumgoff and Wicklow Gap ascents.