Norway’s Amalie Lutro (Team Region Sør) sprinted up the Parade in Kilkenny to take victory on stage five of Rás na mBan this evening. Lutro edged Elynor Backstedt (Storey Racing) and Team Ireland’s Lara Gillespie in the final dash to the line at the front of a group of 37 riders at the end of the hour long city centre stage.
Safely in the lead group were overall race leader Claire Steels (Brother UK Fusion RT) who will carry a six second lead over fellow Briton Josie Knight into the final stage in Kilkenny tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, Steels had taken victory in the stage four individual time trial at Tullaroan. The Briton beat Anna Shackley of Team GB by five seconds at the end of the 6.7km solo race against the watch with Molly Patch (Brother UK Fusion RT) third at 11 seconds.
Team Ireland’s Maeve Gallagher is the best placed Irish rider in sixth place heading into the final day.
