Irish amateur rider Daire Feeley is one stage away from the biggest win of his career as he holds a 51-second advantage over Louis Sutton heading into the final day of Rás Tailteann.
The 25-year-old Roscommon man was coolness personified on Saturday's 154km penultimate leg from Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare to Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, matching anything that was thrown at him by his rivals on general classification.
Feeley, riding in the colours of the Cork All-Human VeloRevolution team, may not have won any of the four stages so far this week but by virtue of high stage placings and his cumulative time overall, he is the man they must all beat.
There are 13 riders spread across eight different teams within two minutes of Feeley, and with just four teammates for help, he knows the race is far from over.
Yesterday´s stage winner Adam Ward of the Irish National Team is lurking with intent in third just over a minute down while his teammate, and today's stage winner, Rory Townsend is fourth overall at 1'29".
The latter showed his undoubted - and often underrated - ability today with a devastating kick inside the final 150 metres to pull away from 18-year old Odhran Doogan (Orwell Wheelers) and third-placed Matteo Cigala (Carlow Dan Morrissey).
On paper, today´s stage was the easiest of the race so far as it featured no categorised climbs and less than 1,000 metres of climbing.
But those facts betray the reality of how hard it really was; the stage was completed in just three hours and 13 minutes with an average speed of a blistering 48km an hour.
Townsend, an established international rider, has been close to victory on a couple of occasions this week and he made no mistake today after a textbook leadout from his team to set him up.
Tomorrow´s final stage is the shortest of the race and takes the riders 135km from Kinnegad to Blackrock, Co Louth over two categorised climbs in quick succession.
They are 'only' category 3 ascents at Slane after 54km and another in Collon at 63km , but coming so close to one another, anyone with tired legs will be exposed here.
There's no chance of rain, but a strong cross-tailwind will make the race faster, more nervous and even harder for Feeley and his teammates to control.
The action gets underway from the main street in Kinnegad at 12pm and should be wrapped up by around 3pm.
