Last year's Rás na mBan winner Manon de Boer put in a dominant performance to secure her first stage win of this year's race in Co Kilkenny on Saturday afternoon.
The Dutch rider powered up the final metres of the finishing climb to 'The Rower' to cross the line ahead of American Heidi Franz in second, with Marine Lenehan the best of the Irish in third.
Overall leader Mia Griffin finished in 17th place, in a group four seconds down on De Boer, which was enough to keep hold of the magenta jersey with only tomorrow’s two stages remaining.
An overcast day greeted the riders as they assembled at the Hoban Hotel in Kilkenny City for the start of the final road stage of this year’s race, with the peloton taking on a 101km test featuring three categorised climbs, including two ascents of the final rise to The Rower.
The early part of the stage saw little in the way of action at the front of the race, as riders largely saved their resources for the efforts to come.
That initial lull was to be short-lived, however, with a long uncategorised drag out of Inistioge providing opportunities for a series of attacks and counter-attacks, most notably from Monarch Racing’s Chloe Mauvais.
Her solo attack was ended with the first ascent Queen of the Mountains climb of The Rower resulting in an upping of the pace from the main bunch, with the charge led by QOM leader Lucy Lee (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) and Manon de Boer (NWVG-Uplus) in a resumption of their race-long duel for the QOM jersey.
De Boer crested the summit ahead of Lee on this occasion, leaving the two tied on points with two climbs remaining.
The intermediate sprint followed soon after, with Grace Reynolds (Brother UK-OnForm) taking the three bonus seconds, ahead of Frederikke Aafeldt (Team Aalborg Sparekassen Danmark) who claimed two seconds, with DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK’s Caoimhe O’Brien reducing the margin to teammate and overall leader Griffin by taking one bonus second.
With around 50 riders remaining at the head of the race with some 40 kilometres to go, Rosan Koper (Team Noord Holland), Annamarie Lipp (Torelli) and Iris Mulder (WV De Jonge Renner) clipped off the front, quickly opening a gap of 42 seconds on the main bunch approaching the second QOM climb of the day at Coppenagh.
Once again, however, the QOM classification contest dictated proceedings on the climb, with De Boer and Lee moving to the head of the main group to push the pace, neutralising the breakaway in the process.
De Boer’s dominance on the stage was starting to become evident by this point, with the Dutch national champion for riders without a contract repeating the outcome of the previous QOM to take the maximum points, moving her into the provisional lead of the Queen of the Mountains classification, with Lee summitting in second place.
Around 30 riders remained at the head of the race by the summit of Coppenagh, with another series of attacks punctuating the final 20 kilometres of the race.
It would all come back together for the final rise to The Rower, however, culminating in De Boer showing her power to secure the stage victory over her rivals.
Heidi Franz (Monarch Racing) followed just one second behind, with a strong performance from Marine Lenehan (Dan Morrissey-Primor by Pissei) giving her the third spot on the podium.
De Boer’s winning margin, plus the 10 second time bonus for the victory, moves her up to third in the general classification, and she now sits just 12 seconds behind leader Griffin with two stages remaining.
The Dutch rider also secures the IVCA Wicklow 200 Queen of the Mountains classification with her success today, with no categorised climbs in the final two stages. The lead of the Cycling Ireland Points Classification is also retained by Griffin, as is her hold at the top of the Kilkenny County Council Best Irish Rider standings.
The Sport Ireland Best Young Rider remains Caoimhe O’Brien, who also sits second on General Classification at 11 seconds.Tomorrow’s final stage sees a 2.5km time trial around Kilkenny Castle in the morning, with the afternoon criterium around the City Centre staging the finale of this year’s Rás na mBan.
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