Young guns to the fore on final stage of The Ras cycle tour in Ireland

Kiwi young guns fired the parting shots for the New Zealand cycling team on the final day of the The Ras cycle tour in Ireland.

Rookies Shane Archbold and Aaron Gate finished in the peloton sprint in seventh and 11th placings respectively in the final tough stage from Kilcullen to Skerries.

They were able to negotiate the climbs in a much easier day than the demanding penultimate stage while teammates Marc Ryan and Wes Gough rolled in with the second bunch 4m 53s behind the peloton.

Ryan was the best of the kiwis 14m23s behind the winner Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden) in 39th with the BikeNZ track team in Europe racing in a key part of their endurance build-up for the Commonwealth Games.

The squad head to Europe tomorrow with the next stage race the Thüringen Rundfahrt International in Germany in two weeks.

Overall classification, The Ras Tour, Ireland after five stages:

Alexander Wetterhall (SWE – Team Sprocket Pro) 24:44.13, 1; Peter Williams (GBR – Motorpoint Pasta) at 59s, 2; Dan Craven (GBR – Rapha Condor Sharp) at 1:32, 3.

New Zealanders: Marc Ryan at 14:23, 39; Wes Gough at 18:48, 49; Shane Archbold at 21:50, 53; Aaron Gate at 25:45, 55.

Details: www.bikenz.org.nz