Austrian rider Jan Sokol outsprinted a breakaway group of eight to claim victory on stage three of An Post Rás.
The Azerbaijan Synergy Baku rider marginally led coming in to the final stretch in Charleville town and powered home ahead of Riccardo Pichetta and Oliver Wood who finished in second and third place respectively.
Irishman Damien Shaw was right on Wood’s wheel crossing the line and took a superb fourth place, while stage one winner Robert Jon McCarthy finished in fifth position.
The 154 kilometre stage three route from Lisdoonvarna to Charleville featured relatively flat, big gear roads with only two category climbs potentially breaking up the peloton.
Following a few unsuccessful attacks early on, a group of seven riders went clear approaching Ennis, 30 kilometres in to the race; Sokol, Wood, Pichetta, Pierrick Naud, David Wohrer, Andre Benoit and Irishman Roger Aiken.
Shaw and McCarthy gave chase, bridging a gap of 17 seconds to make it a lead group of nine. This group proved to be the decisive breakaway of the day, working together to assemble a lead of almost 3 minutes 25 seconds over the bunch which featured the yellow jersey leader Patrick Bevin.
Aiken was in fine form, leading from the front and taking the two King of the Mountain and the Hot Spot primes. Back in the peloton, the New Zealand National Team and the Australia Subaru-Albion team worked tirelessly to close the gap and with only 10 kilometres to go, the break’s lead had dwindled to just 1 minute 15 seconds.
With only a few kilometres to go to the finish it was clear that the break would not be caught. Aiken attacked from the front twice but was reeled in on both occasions. As they turned the final corner into the town centre, Sokol found another gear and galloped to the finish line to take the victory.
Sokol was ecstatic to take the stage win after such a tight finish.
"With five kilometres to go, I thought that unless our group makes a big mistake that it would come down to a sprint and it did.
"In the final kilometre the Irish rider, Aiken, was very strong and attacked hard but I managed to chase him down and just got ahead of him in the last few hundred metres. I am very happy; it’s a great win for our team," he added.
Patrick Bevin finished in the main bunch, 16 seconds behind Sokol, which means he retains the yellow jersey heading in to stage four tomorrow.
The New Zealander also claims the points classification and the King of the Mountains jerseys. Alex Peters and Sean Lacey again sit top of the Under-23 and county rider classification respectively.
Standings
Stage three, Lisdoonvarna to Charleville
1, Jan Sokol (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku) 154.2 kilometres in 3 hours 35 mins 1 sec
2, Riccardo Pichetta (Italy Team IDEA 2010 ASD)
3, Oliver Wood (Great Britain national team)
4, Damien Shaw (Cork City Aquablue)
5, Robert Jon McCarthy (An Post Chainreaction Sean Kelly) all same time
6, Andre Benoit (Germany Team Kuota) at 7 secs
7, David Wohrer (Austria Tirol Cycling) same time
8, Roger Aiken (Louth North) at 12 secs
9, Pierrick Naud (Canada) at 16 secs
10, Owain Doull (Ireland An Post Chainreaction) same time
General classification after stage three:
1, Patrick Bevin (New Zealand National Team) 10 hours 24 mins 24 secs
2, Clemens Fankhauser (Austria Tirol Cycling Team) at 1 min 55 secs
3, Alessandro Pettiti (Italy Team Idea 2010 Asd) same time
4, Markus Eibegger (Azerbaijan Synergy Baku Cycling) at 1 min 57 secs
5, David Chopin (France Bretagne Velotec) same time
6, Nic Hamilton (Canada National Team) at 2 mins 5 secs
7, Alex Peters (Britain Madison Genesis) at 2 mins 6 secs
8, Owain Doull (Ireland An Post Chain Reaction) at 2 mins 7 secs
9, Remi Pelletier-Roy (Canada National Team)
10, Alistair Slater (Great Britain National Team) both same time
Under 23: Alex Peters (Britain Madison Genesis)
Points: Bevin
Mountains: Bevin
County rider: Sean Lacey (Cork City Aquablue)
