Columbia put on a textbook display of team tactics at the Tour of Ireland, commanding the stage win and the overall victory on an aggressive final stage that blew the field apart. Frantisek Rabon dispensed of his breakaway companions on the punishing finishing circuit in Cork to take the win 15 seconds ahead of Pezula’s Fredrik Ericsson. Behind, Marco Pinotti countered off the attack of teammate Michael Barry to launch a successful solo bid for the overall.

Russell Downing (Pinarello CandiTV) fought valiantly to preserve the yellow jersey he earned with his stage 4 win, but ended up fourth on the day, leading in a four-man group 1:37 down on Rabon. He finished second on GC, with Garmin-Chipotle’s Julian Dean rounding out the final podium.

Marco Pinotti earns the final leader's jersey.

Photo: Pete Goding

“This year I have won two time trials, but this is the first time this season I’ve won a stage race,” Pinotti said. “I’m overjoyed.”

The “harmless” break
Rabon never expected to win when he made his way into the day’s early breakaway. Headed up the long drag of the first KOM, five men went clear: Rabon, Ericsson, Thomas Rabou (Rabobank), Mauro Richeze (CSF Group Navigare) and Ilya Chernetskiy (Tinkoff).

Rabou was happy to be there, but his companions didn’t share the feeling — Rabou was the only one who wasn’t way down on GC (he started the day 40 seconds back). After a bit of attacking dispensed of Rabou and Richeze, the remaining three settled down to the day’s work.

Four trips up St. Patrick's Hill made for a tough, tough day.

Photo: Pete Goding

On the last two of four trips up the 25 percent St. Patrick’s Hill, an elite group of about eight riders went clear, each time containing Downing, Barry, Pinotti, Garmin-Chipotle’s Julian Dean and Team Type 1’s Matt Wilson, the latter two of whom sat in second and third overall, respectively.

Up ahead, the lead group lost Chernetskiy on the final climb and with the remaining two-man breakaway up the road irrelevant to the GC, Dean and Wilson punched out numerous times, looking to carve out the few vital seconds that separated them from Downing. Isolated without teammates, Downing nonetheless fought back the moves.

“I said to the team at the start of the day that I wanted to attack the stage and give it everything and either win the lot or lose it,” Wilson said. “I didn’t want to go home and think that I just followed wheels all day. I attacked as much as possible and gave it everything. Columbia just rode a perfect race.”

After the small group separated itself on the penultimate trip up St. Patrick’s Hill, Barry hit out alone, quickly building a 20-second gap on his pursuers. Ahead, Rabon and Ericsson kept pouring it on, maintaining their two-minute lead.

Barry puts in a big effort on St. Patrick's Hill.

Photo: Pete Goding

Laying over the bars, Barry held his gap over the six pursuers for about a lap of the 15km circuit that featured a few sharp hills. The remainder of that group was caught before St. Patrick’s Hill.

The last time up St. Patrick’s, the noisy crowd crushed in on Rabon and Ericsson, then Barry alone, and then Wilson, who attacked off the front of the peloton. His aggression drew out about 10 riders, including Dean and the yellow jersey Downing.

That 10-man group labored collectively to bring back Barry. As soon as the caught was made, Pinotti hit them. It was textbook.

“The guys out of the GC were supposed to attack before the finishing circuits, so Rabon went. I actually thought he would be chased down; I didn’t expect him to be that good,” said Columbia director Brian Holm. “I told the GC guys [Barry and Pinotti], wait, wait, wait, until two and a half laps to go. When we got the feeling that everyone was really friggin’ tired, then we started.”

Pinotti, the Italian national time trial champion, quickly built a 20-second lead over the yellow jersey group, which was soon caught by the tattered remnants of the peloton.

“I’m not so good on the steep climbs, so I tried to stay conservative there, but I made the most of my advantage on the flat,” Pinotti said. “The people on [St. Patrick’s Hill] were amazing. I hope they liked the show we put on today.”

At 2km to go, the two leaders Rabon and Ericsson hit the short but sharp Bakers Hill for the last time. From there, it was a bombing downhill to the last small rise at 400 meters to go. Ericsson flew around the corner onto Bakers Hill, and went full stick — but Rabon countered and left him behind.

“He was just that much better,” Ericsson said. “I was going into the corner first, and went as hard as I could. He came by like a rocket. What am I going to do, you know? I was already flat out.”

Cavendish had a great tour ... and a tough day.

Photo: Pete Goding

Behind, Pinotti was on his own rocket, flying up and over the Bakers Hill, securing his grip on the overall.

In a last-ditch attempt, Wilson attacked on Bakers, but Downing reeled him in and then went over the top.

Inside the last kilometer, Dean gave it a final effort, but Downing stayed glued to his wheel, and came around at the finish.

Minutes passed as groups of three and four trickled across the finish. At day’s end, only 57 riders finished the race.

“Columbia really had the advantage; they had two guys capable of wining the race today,” Dean said. “They rode perfectly. They were cool as cucumbers until two to go.”

With many of Columbia’s riders getting ready to ride the world championships, the Tour of Ireland proved to be good for both quality training and team morale.

“It was after the textbook, but you know it’s quite easy to be smart with tactics. All teams here understand good tactics,” Holm said. “You have to be smart, of course, but you can’t do anything unless the riders have good legs, like they did today.”