Cycling: One day after losing his race-leader's yellow jersey, Tommy Evans showed some of his characteristic fighting spirit when he went agonisingly close to winning the sixth stage of the FBD Milk Rás.
The Belfastman reached the finish in Donegal with Swedish rider Jonas Holmkvist and looked to have the measure of his rival in the sprint, only for his shoe to unclip from the pedal and cost him vital momentum.
"He wasn't getting around me," said Evans. "I led the sprint out and was ahead coming to the line, but then my foot pulled out."
Sixth on the stage was his team-mate Ciarán Power, who took the bunch sprint and showed that he has recovered from the disappointment of Thursday's stage.
Two places further back was the Meath Lee Strand Cycleways rider Eugene Moriarty, best county rider for the fourth day in succession, while Chris Newton finished 10th and successfully defended his yellow jersey.
The day started on a low note for the Team Ireland-Irish Sports Council squad when the race officials announced that David O'Loughlin would not start. O'Loughlin had been in the winning break on Thursday but blew up in the last 10 miles and finished 17 minutes back. The Mayo rider had come into the race as one of the big favourites but had been ill on Wednesday night, losing strength, sleep and his chances of winning the event.
Any questions about the Irish team's morale were quickly answered, though, when Evans got involved in an early skirmish and went clear.
The move had begun when Moriarty broke away with Kazakh Assan Bazayev after 20 miles and they were successfully pursued by Evans, Holmkvist and Moriarty's team-mate Ray Clarke. Swedish professional Thomas Lovkvist and Sportsbook.com pro Josh Beck later bridged, increasing the numbers up front to seven.
Chris Newton's Britain team-mates, Steve Cummings and Kieran Page, came to the front of the chasing group to prevent the gap growing and, aided by riders from the Surrey Team, were able to prevent further breakaways.
Through the 60-mile point at Ardara, the gap was two minutes and 40 seconds and gave the co-operating seven a good buffer before they hit the gruelling first-category Glengesh. Clarke and Beck lost contact on the one-in-four hairpins but the other five crested the summit one minute and 15 seconds clear of Newton.
With Power blocking behind, the quintet were over two and a half minutes clear at Carrick, 29 miles from the finish. However, this gap fell quickly when Newton's chief rivals began to attack and hauled the bunch back to within 20 seconds of the leaders.
In response, Evans launched a series of attacks and succeeded in reaching the finish with just Holmkvist for company
