Nicolas Roche attack on final climb fails to pay off in Tour of Britain

Ireland's Nicolas Roche tried to get closer to the yellow jersey of race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) on yesterday's fifth stage of the Tour of Britain, attacking on the final climb before the drop to the finish line in Exeter.

The Tinkoff Saxo rider launched a move after his team-mate Chris Juul Jensen rode to set things up for him. However the climb was not long enough for Roche to be able to make a difference and his jump was covered by the other riders in what was left of the main bunch.

Breakaway trio Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling), Shane Archbold and Maarten Wynants stayed clear until the end, with Brandle jumping away to hit the line eight seconds ahead of Archbold and Wynants (Belkin).

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New Zealander Archbold races with the Irish

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team, as does the Briton Mark McNally; the latter defended his lead in the King of the Mountains competition yesterday, ensuring more publicity for the squad, and looks set to win that competition overall.

Roche sprinted in ninth on the stage, finishing as part of the 35-man group which came in 14 seconds behind Brandle. He is 14 seconds behind Kwiatkowski in fourth place, and will keep attacking to take the race lead.

Meanwhile visiting US rider Tayler Wiles followed up her second place on Wednesday’s opening day of the Rás na mBan with a sprint victory on yesterday’s second stage. Usually racing as part of the Specialized Lululemon team but guesting for the DID Cycle 4 Life squad for the event, she won a 33-strong bunch sprint into Ballyvaughan at the end of the 111.8km stage from Loop Head.

Danish rider Frida Knuttsson (Team Rytger) took second, while Fiona Meade (Team Munster) was third.

Stage one winner Femke Van Kessel (WVBreda-Manieu) was only 18th in the gallop and lost her race lead to Wiles. Meade is now second overall with Knuttsson third. Wiles holds both the mountains and points jerseys heading into today's stage.

In other news Roche, his cousin Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and Philip Deignan (Sky) have been named to be the three-man Irish team for the elite road race at cycling's world championships on September 28th. Roche will also ride the time trial.