Chris Newton, and his nearest rival the incredible 43 year old Malcolm Elliott (Trinity Capital), are turning the RBD Insurance RAS in Ireland into a race of their own. After his two wins against Elliott in as many days Chris was narrowly beaten by the Sheffield rider in the first bunch sprint of the race.
A break of 7 riders broke clear on the 162km stage from Lisdoonvarna – Templemore and it looked likely to stay ahead all the way to the finish line until a well organised chase by the Newton’s recycling.co.uk / MG XPower / Litespeed team foiled the move, with the last rider caught with only 100 metres remaining.
Chris still leads the race overall from Elliott by 8 seconds, with the 3rd place rider, Morten Hegreberg of Norway (Sparebanken Vest), at 2 minutes 16 seconds and team mate Rob Sharman moving up from 5th to 4th today at 2 minutes 32 seconds. Recycling’s race leader still holds 1st spot in the point’s competition too.
Today’s 5th stage could potentially shake up the overall classification with two category one climbs included in the 144km ride from Templemore to Abbeyleix.
