George Kimber outsprints Team Ireland duo to take yellow jersey on penultimate Rás stage

Irish Independent

24-05-2025

Kimber went clear with the Irish duo over the top of the Wolftrap climb after 114km of the 128km fourth stage, and admitted afterwards that he was hanging onto their coat tails on the rise to the summit.
'It was Ireland that kept the pace high on the climb,' said Kimber afterwards.
'My position was pretty good but then they went really hard from the bottom and I was probably about 10 or 15 wheels back.
'I know how well those guys climb, so I went full gas to get over to them. They had me on the limit to be fair, as I was the only 70 kg-plus guy left, but I said to them basically 'If you take it steady on the steep bits, I'll help you over the top'. I think they needed me on the fast bits and we worked well together.'
Overnight leader Odhran Doogan found himself in the chase group behind, which also contained most of the top ten overall, including Irish duo Matthew Teggart and 2022 winner Daire Feeley, but they couldn't match the lead trio on the run-in to Mountrath.
By the time Mexican Sebastian Brenes led them over the line 14km later, they had lost 28 seconds to stage winner Kimber.
'I was glad we didn't play games because that could have ruined our chances of keeping the gap but the commitment was there,' said 25-year-old Kimber, who began the day just six seconds off the race lead.
'We were sort of team time trialling it until about 300 metres to go and I just backed my sprint in the end. I've been sprinting quite well this year.
'I don't know them [Harvey and Meehan] personally but just being the only big guy left, I was pretty confident. This is huge for me. It's the biggest win of my career, so I'm really happy at the moment.'
Kimber now leads the Rás by five seconds from Meehan, with previous leader Doogan dropping to third at 22 seconds with Matteo Cigala at 25 seconds, Brenes at 28 seconds, Feeley at 32 seconds and Teggart and the rest of the top ten at 33 seconds.
As well as the yellow jersey, most of the other jerseys in the race changed hands with Pan American road-race silver medallist Brenes taking over the green jersey of points leader. Meehan took the white of under 23 leader and Doogan wearing the blue jersey of best county rider overall.
The only jersey that didn't change hands was the Irish independent King of the Mountains jersey. Alan Lewis of Team Skyline consolidated his lead in the competition by taking points at the summit of both Portumna and Wolftrap. With just one climb left on Sunday's stage, that almost guarantees victory in the classification.
'After wearing it all week keeping it was definitely one of the goals for today,' said Lewi. 'I was also hoping to maybe move up on GC and try and take yellow as well. It was full gas from the bottom of the last climb.
'The Irish lads set a very hard pace all the way up and unfortunately I lost contact a few hundred metres from the top and got caught by the second group with 4km to go, so that didn't work out. But this was the primary goal and that has been a success, so I can ride into Bective tomorrow with the jersey.'
With just a 143km mainly flat stage to Bective remaining on in the Rás, new race leader Kimber hopes to retain his yellow jersey by simply doing what he has done all week.
'As I've been doing this whole race, I'll just be keeping an eye on the strong guys and keep following them,' he said. 'There's no need to overcomplicate it. I don't need to make the race. I just need to follow. That'll be the plan.'