P&O Tour of The North
Moss cruises to P&O Tour title
Englishman James Moss (Node4-Giordana) ran out the winner of the P&O Ferries Tour of the North which finished up on Easter Monday afternoon in Ballymena.
After the final 70 mile stage, run off at 26.5mph average, Moss held on to his overnight lead to win the 49th edition of the race by 18 seconds from Michael Nicolson (Scotland)
The race got off to a furious start, with riders being dropped virtually from the flag was dropped by Ballymena Mayor Hubert Nicholl. An eleven rider break moved clear early on the climb of Shanes Hill, and stayed away for most of the stage, never gaining more than a minute and a half.
The Yellow jersey wearer Moss was in this move, along with Belfast`s Peter Hawkins (Sigma Sport-Specialized), who took the first King of the Hills prime at Shanes Hill, and again at Munie Road to secure a repeat win in the AA competition.
On the final climb of Glenariff, David McCann did the lion's share of the work to bring the remains of the peloton up to the leaders.
There was non-stop attacks in the final thirteen mile run in from the top of the final climb, but none were effective, which left the way clear for a nineteen rider sprint back at the Woodside Road Industrial Estate.
Winner of the final stage was under 23 rider Felix English (Rapha-Condor-Sharp), who took the verdict by a full second on the line ahead of Jack Cutsforth (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes) and Frank Niewold (SWABO-Holland). Ballymena riders Chris Beattie and Simon Taggart finished with a group of 31 riders who were 16 minutes 32 seconds behind the stage winner.
In the final analysis, Moss held on to his Yellow Jersey thanks to the team work of the well drilled Node4 team. Michael Nicolson (Scotland) moved up a place to the runner-up slot 18 seconds behind with another Node4 rider Matt Higgins taking third at 37 seconds.
Conor McAllister was best of the locals in eleventh place at 2 minutes 23 seconds. His brother Leo was 32nd at 18 minutes 07 seconds, while Chris Beattie was 51st at 29.46 and Simon Taggart 53rd at 29.53.
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