'The pace did not relax and as we came within the final 5km disaster struck'

 

By Patrick Clarke

Ras 2012: stage 7

Donegal - Cootehill, 161km

This will be a short diary as I am very tired after the 160km haul that I had to conquer today.

The field left Donegal at high speed and powered down the main road toward Bundoran which was our second visit to the town in the Rás this year.

From here we travelled south-east, pushing hard along the narrow rolling roads.

I was on edge as six riders had ridden clear, one of which was only a minute behind me on the county rider classification.

As the kilometres ticked by, I dug hard to keep at the front as we edged in and out of cross winds and up and down challenging hills.

I had to work hard on ensuring that I kept the food going into me with an endless stream of bars, gels and energy products sponsored by Molloys Lifestyle Pharmacy ensured I was always topped up.

The category two climb of the day at 100km was steady as the Swiss pro team set a comfortable tempo controlling the leeway that the break had out front.

It was not until one of the GC contenders David Mc Cann attacked that things kicked into gear.

Knowing the yellow jersey was in jeopardy, the Swiss pursued hard closing on both him and the break until both had been caught.

But the pace did not relax and as we came within the final 5km disaster struck as my team mate Chris Coyle came a cropper when he crashed.

I luckily avoided disaster and pressed on, coming in safely in the middle bunch.

Tommorow is the final stage and with it comes the black hills of Skerries.

I'm confident I can do well!

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/mEY7OaZ2Z4k/post.aspx

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