George Kimber defends yellow in tense final stage as Josh Charlton takes win
The final 142.8km from Kildare Town to Bective offered a fitting finale to bring the curtain down on a dramatic week.
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The stage began at a furious pace with a group of four riders quickly going clear: Cameron McLaren (26 – TAAP Kalas), Dean Harvey (66 – Team Ireland), Daire Feeley (101 – Burren CC) and Patrick O'Loughlin (116 – Pinergy–Orwell Wheelers).
The quartet opened up a gap of over a minute in the early kilometres despite wet and greasy road conditions. Behind them, the bunch remained cautious, with the yellow jersey Kimber sitting deep in the peloton.
As the race passed through Longwood, Feeley began to assert himself, clearly aiming to claw back his deficit on the general classification. By the time the riders reached Trim, he had gone clear with Harvey, and soon after, the break swelled to 14 riders.
The final Category 3 KOM at Quarry Hill saw Adam Gilsenan take max points ahead of Feeley, Ronan O'Connor and Pritchard. The peloton, led by UCD and Ride Revolution, began to close the gap, and attacks began to fly as riders sensed the final opportunity to alter the general classification.
With just over 10km to go, Odhrán Doogan (77 – Cycling Ulster) launched a late solo move in a final bid to take yellow. However, Kimber remained calm, backed by his remaining teammates, and managed to control the margin to secure overall victory by five seconds.
At the front, Charlton had timed his move to perfection, sprinting clear of the reduced front group to take a fine stage win in Bective.
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