Bagdonas wins An Post Ras

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David McCann followed in the footsteps of his Asia Giant Kenda teammate Martyn Irvine by becoming the second Irish winner of this year’s An Post Rás. The 38-year old rider from Belfast broke away with Tobyn Horton (British Motorpoint) after just 40 kilometres and they pulled away from the bunch, building up a lead of almost three minutes with over half the stage completed.

Just before the pair reached Skerries, on their first circuit of the town, Horton blew up badly and dropped back, leaving McCann to battle on alone. Horton was quickly caught by the peloton, which remained one minute behind with 7 kilometres to go. With 2 kilometres left the gap had been halved, but McCann held on to win the race with fourteen seconds to spare.

He was followed home by New Zealander Shane Archbold (New Zealand National Team), who was the bridesmaid once again, as he took his third second placing in this year’s race. Third home was Dean Windsor (Rapha Condor Sharp). It was a sweet victory for McCann and as he crossed the line he raised his hands to acknowledge the loud cheers and applause. He is no stranger to the Rás, as a multiple stage winner he also won the overall classification in 2004.

The man that took home the yellow jersey home this time round was Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post Sean Kelly). Another strong performance from his teammates including Irish trio, Sam Bennett, Ronan McLaughlin and Mark Cassidy, ensured the Lithuanian’s 32 second lead was not to be relinquished. Bagdonas and the team certainly did things the hard way, defending the jersey from day three.

He finished in the main bunch with his fist raised in a mixture of both relief and joy, as he celebrated his biggest career win to date. Speaking at the podium presentations Bagdonas paid tribute to his An Post Sean Kelly teammates.

"It’s been so hard this week. I’ve been the leader for six days and I could not have done this without my team. I have to thank them; they all worked so hard for me on each of those days. I am so happy now, this is my biggest win and it’s great that it is in Ireland."

His team manager Kurt Bogaerts also praised his five man team, claiming that he had little to do with the tactics, as they all took it upon themselves to defend the yellow jersey throughout.

"This is one of our best victories because every member of the team was really strong. This week there was something that I have never seen before in the group, and it didn’t come from me. There was not much tactics from me either and they took it upon themselves to fight for the jersey. They have probably all have made a big step in their career this week."

A proud Bogaerts also admitted that he almost didn’t pick Bagdonas for the Rás, but the young rider’s form in the week leading up to the race prompted him to make a last minute change to the line up.

"I had a look at the route and I had a feeling that he was the man for the race."