Rostollan revs up to pull clear in mountains

Another cracking day’s racing on the An Post Rás saw the Swiss team play pass the parcel with the yellow jersey as Nicolas Baldo took over the race lead and young Frenchman Thomas Rostollan lived up to his nickname of ‘little motorbike’ to claim stage three into Buncrana.

The race was all together until the first climb of the day at Barnesmore Gap after 42km where Lasse Hansen of the Danish team Blue Water Cycling joined Swiss duo Baldo and Jonathon Fumeaux in a three-man lead group on the descent.

The trio were eventually reeled in and another five-man group, including eventual stage winner Rostollan (Aix en Provence), German Daniel Bilchmann (BikeAid), British professionals Richard Lang (Rapha Condor), Matt Higgins (Node4 Giordana) and Christian Varley of the Isle of Man, were next to go clear, heading towards Burt.