Aidis Kruopis (An Post Chain Reaction) stormed to a final stage victory on this year’s An Post Rás winning an electrifying sprint to the line ahead of Davide Vigano (Team IDEA) and county rider, Damian Shaw (Louth Team Asea), who finished in second and third place.
The glory, however, belonged to Lukas Postlberger as the Tirol Cycling Team rider maintained his lead at the top of the general classification (GC) rankings to claim the coveted yellow jersey and deservedly be crowned Rás champion.
After a bad crash on yesterday’s stage, newly crowned Rás champion Postlberger showed true grit and guile to come through the final day still in yellow. The Austrian rider was ecstatic with the overall victory and spoke highly of the support he received from the Irish public throughout the eight days.
“It’s really amazing to take this trophy. People speak of this race and how tough it is but you have to experience it yourself to really understand. I love this country and the people. The support they showed me over the eight days was something I’ll never forget. This is an honour for me to wear this yellow jersey so thank you to everyone.”
The An Post Chain Reaction team dominated the final jersey classifications; Aaron Gate retained the green Points jersey while Kruopis’ incredible performance today saw him win every climb along today’s route and claim the King of the Mountains jersey. Ryan Mullen held on to the Under-23 classification while Ian Richardson’s superb week saw him crowned as best County Rider, a title he held for the full eight days.
Watch the highlights of the stage here:
