CYCLING NEWS:BELGIAN RIDER Niko Eeckhout is one of the hardened old hands in cycling, a 38-year-old rider who has taken many important career results and who is still winning against riders literally half his age.
Nicknamed “Rambo” because of his strength, he gave an early boost to the campaign of the Irish-registered An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Seán Kelly team when he won yesterday’s first stage of the FBD Rás.
The 2006 Belgian national champion used a mixture of power and experience to take the 125 kilometre leg from Kilcullen to Wexford, positioning himself perfectly before unleashing his sprint and thundering along the uphill stretch to the line.
He outsprinted Russell Downing (Britain Candi TV Marshalls), Nicholas Walker (Australia Cinelli-Down Under), Irishman Daniel Clifford (Kildare Projector World) plus many others at the end of a cold, damp day in the saddle. The success was the perfect start for a team which won the race outright last year with Stephen Gallagher. The Richill rider is missing the race due to a family illness, but Eeckhout’s win is an indication that they mean business.
“We are here to try to win stages and then we will see,” stated Eeckhout, who also won two stages in the Vuelta a Extremadura in Spain this season.
“It is the first day, there are still seven to go. But we are going to try to win as many stages as is possible with the team, then we will see what happens with the overall classification.”
Downing finished second in last year’s Tour of Ireland and found himself runner-up again, albeit on a stage rather than in the overall classification. He suggested that he left his sprint too late, Eeckhout having decided to jump hard into a corner with 200 metres to go.
Best Irish rider Clifford also stressed the importance of positioning, but in his case he was happy with his fourth place, his best ever result at this level.
“There was a lot of pushing and shoving coming in the road,” he stated. “Looking at the course, I knew I had to be up in the first five for the last bend as there was only 200 metres left from that point. It wasn’t easy to be in the right place but I managed it.”
First-year senior Sam Bennett also did well in the gallop, placing second-best of the home riders in seventh place. Earlier on, a number of riders tried their luck to get clear. Motivated by the chance to chase the yellow jersey, most moves were committed efforts but also unrewarding.
An early one by Colin Robinson (Meath Martin Donnelly) and John Dempsey (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) was more profitable, with the duo staying away until after the day’s only climb. This enabling a fast-sprinting Robinson to take maximum points on the Knocknacree hill (29.8 kilometres) and guaranteed he starts today’s lumpy 178 kilometre stage to Cobh as mountains leader.
Other moves reaped less benefits. Jan Barta (Austria Arbö KTM Junkers) and Philip Lavery (Dublin KTM Winning Solutions) were away for approximately 30 kilometres but were hauled back with little to show for it.
So too was a late solo effort by Jaan Kirsipuu (Norway Giant Veoila), a previous Tour de France yellow jersey holder and multiple stage winner. It seemed that a sprint finish was destined to happen and that, as the result showed, was an outcome which suited “Rambo” Eeckhout just fine.
