Austrian rider Andreas Mueller (Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam) staved off a lung busting performance by Mullingar man Damien Shaw (Louth Team ASEA) to emerge victorious on stage seven of An Post Rás today in Drogheda.
The duo jumped the lead breakaway of eight riders with only one kilometre to go, going head to head up the final ascent to the line but it was Mueller who managed to find an extra bit in the tank and take the chequered flag.
After finishing in the main bunch, Postlberger goes in to tomorrow’s final stage still in yellow with Aaron Gate (An Post Chain Reaction) overtaking him in the Points Classification. Best County Rider once again went to Ian Richardson (Dublin UCD) while Ryan Mullen (An Post Chain Reaction) retained the Under-23 jersey. Holohan’s impressive performance on the climbs today saw him overtake Rob Partridge (Team NFTO) to claim the King of the Mountains classification.
After two consecutive second place finishes, Damien Shaw was content with his performance but determined to go one better tomorrow and secure a stage victory.
“It was a tough stage. The cat (category) two climb was hard but I had trained a lot around those roads during the winter and today I had lots of support off the Westmeath locals. Unfortunately I just ran out of steam in the last two hundred metres but there’s still one stage left and anything can happen. “
Watch highlights of the stage here:
