Stage
5 of An Post Ras UCI 2.2 race finished with a small breakaway arriving 27
seconds ahead of the main group. Today Stradalli – Bike Aid missed the
breakaway, but the real race for leader’s jerseys was still on in a hard way.
The
166.8 kilometer route saw the riders tackle several categorized climbs which
meant many King of the Mountain points were on offer. Stradalli – Bike Aid
rider, who was previously placed second in the mountains classification, put
his climbing skills to work and reclaimed the King of the Mountains jersey with
only three days of racing left
The
mountainous route meant the race would be very hard to control and a break of 6
would eventually go up the road. None of the riders were a huge threat to the
general classification, so there wasn’t much motivation from the group to chase
late in the race. The team worked to protect Holler and keep him safe from any
accidents.
Holler
would eventually make the front group of only 28 riders and finish 13th on the
day and preserving his top 10 general classification placing. Holler still
remains 10 seconds behind the leader’s jersey and with more mountainous stages
ahead a general classification win is still well within reach.
Stage
6 from Clonakilty to Dungarvan runs 159.1 kilometers is another hilly route,
but will provide the sprinters who make it to the end with a fast flat finish.
Out of over 150 riders, only 30-40 riders are consistently making it to the
finish in the front group. The weather conditions and routes are proving tough
for all riders involved, but the team is positive and are looking forward to
another day defending the King of the Mountains jersey and chasing an overall
win.
Nikodemus
Holler gets back the lead in the KOM classification at An Post Rás (UCI 2.2) in
Ireland. After lots of points today, Holler now leads with 11 points ahead of
second place.
On
today’s fifth stage of An Post Rás the guys from Stradalli – BIKE AID had a lot
on their minds with what they wanted to do. In the language of football nowadays
everybody talks about “setting goals” and so on. Whatever you may think about
those kind of “plans” or “missions” one thing is for sure: in real life it is
important to set some goals and to try and reach them as good as possible. And
honestly, who wants to go through life without any plan?
Today
the riders of team Stradalli – BIKE AID agreed together on 2 main goals: first,
to take back the KOM – leader jersey for Nikodemus Holler and second, to try to
put pressure on the yellow jersey today.
With
these targets in their pocket, the riders from the German team went to the start
line ready to fight like hell. Sure, during the Rás it is very hard to control
the race as the teams consist only of 5 riders and the race is so nervous and
hectic but the guys did the utmost to reach their goals. Again working hard as
a team with their Stradalli full carbon Aversa road bikes, they controlled the
pack until the first KOM and Nikodemus did the rest. He won the first KOM and
took second in the KOM number 2 to win again the third.
With
taking all these points, Niko now leads with 11 points ahead of the second and
wears the leader jersey of the KOM classification again! A very beautiful one
by the way, very colourful!
At
the end of the stage, Niko finished with a group of other favorites on 13th
place 27 seconds back on the winner Wouter Mol form dutch team De Rijke.
So
there is one goal left for the upcoming days, guys!
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