Gediminas Bagdonas wins fourth stage and also takes overall lead in 2011 An Post Ras
Belgium's An Post Sean Kelly team’s Gediminas Bagdonas won the fourth stage and also took the overall lead in 2011 An Post Ras between Castleisland to Castletownbere on Wednesday, May 25.
The 25-year-old, Bagdonas took a total of 3 hours, 42 minutes and 59 seconds to cover the distance of 142 kilometres.
Second stage overall winner Shane Archbold of New Zealand National was runner-up in the sprint with the same timing of Gediminas, while Stuart Shaw of Australian Drapac Cycling finished in the third spot.
After winning the stage, Bagdonas said, "It was a nice race again. I like the rain; it's my type of weather! [Winning the race] It's possible. Why not now? Today I had good luck, I tried my hardest in the sprint and I won. We will see what happens tomorrow."
In the final circuit of the race, the break-away riders were only able to take a lead of two minutes over the peloton because of the climbs in this circuit. However, when the race entered the Healy’s Pass in the final 20 kilometres, the group, which was
leading over the cyclists got caught.
In the final 15 kilometres, Bagdonas attacked the peloton, with fifteen riders with him. However, he made his speed and managed to cross the finish-line ahead of other riders and clinched the yellow jersey.
Bagdonas took the lead with the timing of 16 hours, 39 minutes and 15 seconds. Oleksandr Sheydyk of Ukraine ISD-Lampre was runner-up with 1 minute and 16 seconds behind Bagdonas.
There was no changing in the overall standing, the top three winners in the third stage were also maintain his overall lead, including Nikolay Mihaylov of France AVC Aix en Provence, Oleksandr Sheydyk of Ukraine ISD Lampre and Briton Peter Williams of Motorpoint.
He further added, “It makes me really happy, the way the team is racing. Already this year we have the same amount of wins as last year - two. For me that's a big success. Now we will go for the overall (classification) and maybe other stage wins. I want
to get the maximum out of this race,”
The next stage will start in Castletownbere and end in Blarney. All the riders will cover a distance of 156 kilometres.
Tags: