Wetterhall seizes yellow in Tipperary

Confirming the long-running notion that the FBD Insurance Rás is an extremely unpredictable event, today's fourth leg of the race saw all bar one of the top 10 losing time. Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) jumped from his overnight position of seventh up to first overall, provoking a 20-man breakaway group that stayed clear to the finish.

German rider Maximillan May (Germany Thuringer Energie) was quickest of the 20 in the sprint into Tipperary, edging out Joseph Lewis (Australia Drapac Porsche) and Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly). Wetterhall drove the pace over the final few kilometres, striving to make up as much time as possible rather than worrying about the stage honours.

"I am an aggressive rider, I like to ride on the front. So this is a good race for me," he said after the stage. "I can be aggressive and it counts as well [doing it in a race like the FBD Rás]. I knew I could have the yellow jersey after today so I was riding really hard in the last 50 kilometres just to keep it. It was a great success for me and the team today, so that was good."

The 24-year-old rode the Tour of Ireland two years ago, with his stage racing experience including the Tour de l'Ain and, this season, the Tour of Brittany. He said that after focusing on mountain bike riding for 11 years, he now planned to chase success on the road.

"I am a beginner at road racing, and I want to get really good at it," he explained before describing his tactic inside the last 10 minutes of racing.

"I was riding hard and there was single file all the way from four kilometres to go. I knew I had to do it as otherwise there would be attacks. I didn't want any of those, so I was riding hard until the finish line."

May was ecstatic at the finish, roaring loudly when he wheeled across the line, arms aloft. "I'm not great in big bunch sprints, but from a small group I can be pretty fast. I knew that I had to be in second or third place in the last corner," he said. "I saw the sign for 150 metres to go and I gave it everything I had." It proved to be more than enough.

How it unfolded

After an aggressive start, today's big move was sparked off when McConvey, Wetterhall and Rob Partridge (Wales) attacked approximately 72km into the stage. McConvey took second and first on the up categorised climbs of Killanena and Knockanena, and this trio build up a lead of over a minute.

Just before Scarrif, which came 95km into the stage, they were joined by 16 others. These were Wouter Sybrandy (Sigmasport Specialised), Josef Kugler (Arbö KTM-Gebrüder Weis), Stuart Shaw (Drapac Porsche), Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly), Stephen Gallagher (Sigmasport Specialised), Joseph Lewis (Drapac Porsche), Maximillan May (Thuringer Energie), Alessio Signego (Japan - Nippo), John Anderson (Team Sprocket Pro), Matt Howe (Inside-Out Sports), Ben Greenwood (Rapha Condor Sharp), Jon Tiernan-Locke (Rapha Condor Sharp), Ian Bibby (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta), James Sampson (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta), Peter Williams (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta) and Ryan Sherlock (Dublin Eurocycles).

Neil Delahaye (Ireland Subway National Team), Stephen Barrett (Team Planet X), Sean Lacey (Limerick BDO Get Back), Stephen O'Sullivan (Meath Engraveit.ie/Jade.ie) and Paul Griffin (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) then tried to close up to this dangerous group, but even with the later reinforcement of Philip Lavery (Dublin Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn), then could get no closer than 40-odd seconds.

Behind, there a real sense of panic panic. Race leader Craven, Tuesday's stage winner David O'Loughlin (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) and many other big names all missed out. At one point they were seven minutes back, but a concerted, desperate chase saw 48 of the riders fight back and limit their losses to just over two and a half minutes.

Even so, Craven slipped to eighth overall, two minutes 22 seconds back.

He rued the peculiar tactics of the FBD Rás; "I spoke to some foreign riders when we were in the bunch and they all agreed that this is the most insane race that they have ever been in," he said, looking a little crestfallen. "This was a typical Rás day - everyone attacks at the first kilometre and they don't stop attacking until the end. It was absolutely mad - by the time we hit the climb, you could see everyone was really suffering.

"Some guys rolled off the front and all the strong guys on GC except [Alex] Wetterhall were left there behind, looking at each other. No one reacted until it was too late. We tried to chase them, the An Post team was really dedicated. But the other teams basically gave up on it, so it is a big loss to them."

The net effect was that those 20 riders slipped away, fighting it out for stage honours and wresting the jersey from Craven's back.

The 2008 FBD Insurance Rás winner Stephen Gallagher was best of the Irish in ninth, crossing the line in the same time as May, while Connor McConvey (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) came home 14th and jumped from 15th to fifth overall.

Tomorrow's stage ends with a summit finish at Seskin Hill. Wetterhall will be under attack from all of his main rivals but, as his slim build plus his mountainbike background suggests, he should be no slouch on the climb.

"I hope my legs are good. If they are, I will go fast on the hills," he vowed.