Last year’s An Post Rás winner, Clemens Fankhauser (Team Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang) and previous stage winner Conor Dunne (An Post – Chain Reaction) both showed that they are in good form in the lead-up to the Rás, when they came close to a win on today’s stage of the Tour of Azerbaidjan.
The stage from Gabala to Mingachevir was the longest of the race at 204.6kms and Dunne and Fankhauser made it into the winning break of four which got away early on the stage. The break also contained Daniel Turek (Cycling Academy Team) and Griffin Easter (Airgas Safeway Cycling).
The four riders worked well together, and despite a concerted effort by the peloton, it was clear coming into the last few kilometres that the lead quartet would fight out for the stage win. After passing the flamme rouge, Turek attacked. Despite a chase by the other riders, his gap was too big and he couldn’t be caught.
Fankhauser outsprinted Dunne for second place with Easter fourth. Today’s effort enabled Fankhauser to move into ninth place on GC. Primož Roglič (Adria Mobil) still leads the race overall going into tomorrow’s final stage which consists of a circuit race around Baku.
Following his stage win on Friday, Dunne’s team-mate Josh Edmondson lies in fifth place on GC, 3’49” behind Roglič.
