A relentless barrage of attacks by Ian Bibby inside the final 25 kilometres on stage six of An Post Rás today from Ballina to Ballinamore was enough to set up a thrilling sprint finish, with the NFTO team rider emerging victorious following a thrilling sprint to the line.
Bibby attacked the descent on the final category two climb of the stage and from this point on he never looked like relinquishing his lead position.
Westmeath man Damien Shaw tracked Bibby all the way, finishing in second place in what was an impressive show of strength and guile by the Louth Team Asea rider.
The longest stage of the race took the riders up the early category three climb of Drumsheen and then on to the most difficult climb thus far in this year’s race, the 10.1km category two ascent of Altinure.
The latter came just over 25 kilometres from the end and was used as a springboard to propel Bibby to his maiden stage victory of An Post Rás in Ballinamore.
The first notable break came from Shaw, who looked to stamp his authority on the race from early on.
Due to the difficulty of the stage and the attacking mentality of the riders, splits began to emerge ahead of the first category climb of Drumsheen.
Irish rider Conor Dunne (An Post Chain Reaction) led the breakaway along with 12 others.
The group worked efficiently over the course of the stage and managed to push the gap out as far as five minutes and forty seconds at its peak on the 68km mark.
Approaching the 100km point the peloton had managed to reel in the gap to three minutes and thirty seconds. However, the the leaders always looked to be in control.
The winning and losing of this race was always going to come down to which riders could tactically negotiate the treacherous category two climb at Altinure.
Bibby made his intentions known early on in the climb with a couple of small bursts of speed but it wasn’t until they crossed the summit that he really stepped on the gas.
Bibby made his move and only Edward Laverack and Damien Shaw had enough left in their legs to match him. They continued to stretch their lead and they were 15 seconds clear of their nearest competitors in the run in to the final loop of Ballinamore.
It was towards the end of this loop that Bibby took the bull by the horns and burst to the front. He was pushed hard by Shaw but pulled away in the final few metres giving NFTO the stage six victory.
A win in Ballinamore has only served to whet Bibby’s appetite and he’s hungry for more success in the final two stages.
“Tomorrow we should have another good chance of doing well in the stage," he said.
"I’ve done the last stage a few times now and we definitely have enough to be in the mix so we’ll see how the next couple of days go.”
