MYRON SIMPSON of the New Zealand national team claimed yesterday’s sixth stage of the An Post Rás from Castletownbere to Blarney with a stunning sprint victory into one of the most storied towns in Irish cycling.

ALEXANDER WETTERHALL (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) hung on to the race leader’s yellow jersey by six seconds as Jon Tiernan-Locke (Britian Rapha Condor Sharp) powered his way to victory at the top of Seskin Hill where a huge crowd gathered to welcome yesterday’s fifth stage of the FBD Insurance Rás.

TONY MARTIN, one of the favourites for this year’s Tour de France, won the FBD Insurance Rás three years ago and the team he led back in 2007, Thuringer Energie, is set for a return for this year’s edition of Irish cycling’s showpiece which gets under way on May 23.