POWER SPRINTS HOME IN RAS STAGE SIX

PEZULA Racing?s Ciaran Power took victory in the sixth stage of the FBD Insurance Ras in Clonmel after Friday?s 180-kilometre stage.

As the previous day, an early break established a strong grip on the race and stayed clear until the end, with Power being part of the ten-rider group which went away in the first ten minutes of the event, including stage five winner, Plowman Craven?s Simon Richardson.

The leaders pulled away steadily, and with nobody in the leading group Ireland and Rapha Condor were driving the bunch along, but the gap still grew with the frontrunners gaining two minutes.

The pace meant the leading group fell to eight as the strong men powered on, and the gap continued to grow to more than five minutes. However, as the race reached 30 kilometres to go attacks started to come, but they were too late to catch the leaders.

Richardson was in yellow on the road with Power around one minute behind, and as the Irishman upped the pace in search of the overall lead the break split again.

Power kept the hammer down as they headed for the finish, and he crossed the line three seconds ahead of Christer Rake (Norway Sparebanken), with Ireland-An Post rider Stephen Gallgher taking third.

But fourth spot for Richardson was enough to give him the yellow jersey, with Gallagher second, 10 seconds back, while former leader David McCann is at 1-10 and Chris Newton at 1-46.

FBD Insurance Ras (Stage six, Skibbereen to Clonmel, 180km).-
1 Ciaran Power (Ireland, Pezula Racing)

2 Christer Rake (Norway, Sparebanken) at 3sec

3 Stephen Gallagher (Ireland, An Post) at 6sec

4 Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven RT) at 7sec

5 Andrew Roche (Isle of Man) same time

6 Eugene Moriaty (Myhome.ie) at 29sec

7 Sean Lacey (Eurocycles) at 30sec

8 Cameron Jennings (Pezula) at 37sec

9 Wojciech Dybel (Poland) at 2-26

10 Blazej Janiaczyk (Poland) at 2-37

Overall.-
1 Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven RT)

2 Stephen Gallagher (Ireland, An Post) at 10sec

3 Ciaran Power (Pezula) at 1-01

4 David McCann (Ireland) at 1-46

5 Chris Newton (Rapha-Condor-Recycling) at 1-46

6 Roger Aiken (Ireland) at 1-52

7 Rob Partridge (Rapha-Condor-Recycling) at 1-53

8 Alex Higham (Plowman Craven) at 1-55

9 Andrew Bye (Surrey League) at 2-42

10 Dean Downing (Rapha-Condor-Recycling) at 2-50

RELATED LINKS

Stage four report: McCann wins, Newton punctures, yellow jersey Cassidy crashes out

Reaction: Chris Newton on his stage win

Stage three report: Newton takes the stage

Stage two report: Dean Downing beats Evan Oliphant at the finish

Stage one report: Isle of Man's Hanson wins Ras first stage

2008 FBD Insurance Ras preview