Ras na mban

Pross

Decent women's stage race in Ireland finished yesterday. Some proper climbing on a couple of stages and forumite Karla Boddy took a few stage wins and about 5th on GC I think so well done Karla. My club's womens team were second on the team classification (defending champions) with a 4th place on GC and 2nd in the QoM.

It seems to be a well supported race sponsored by An Post. Would be nice to have something similar over here, maybe something for the promoters of the Ras de Cymru and Junior Tour of Wales to think about?

fnb1

seen this up close over the last week, 6 stages, very well organised and serious racing on some serious roads. It would indeed be fantastic to see anything like this event and the level of support and involvment the local communties had given to it in the UK.

proto

Yep, Karla did really well, podium on all of the 5 road stages ( 2 x 3rd and 3 wins). Didn't have her best day in teh time trial and lost a few seconds to the eventual winner and couldn't get them back (no win time bonus ) A brilliant ride on the shocker that was stage 5, catching the breakaway, and taking the sprint win. Absolute star.

Our other two riders did well too. Hannah Evans coming in 14th, solid performance from her, and a great ride by Clemence Copie who had a nightmare stage 3, punctured early on, then a second wheel change, then a had a nasty crash avoiding a team car, taking the soft option of a ditch landing. Right leg shredded like Hoogerland, she got back on and soloed round but it was a very tough day for her. However, she took 4th on stage 4 and a 5th on the last stage.

Fantastic organisation. Marshalling top notch. Scenery spectacular. A brilliant event. And BTW, if you think the blokes sitting in the team cars are just having a 'nice day out' watching bike racing, think again. Bloody hard work!


Results and some good videos here:

http://www.rasnamban.com/results

Kboddy

Thanks Pross and Proto (albeit a tad late!) :-)