Letterkenny man Sean McFadden has revealed how the Donegal crowds along the route have kept him going through tough times in the 2017 An Post Rás.
The Rás leaves Donegal today with the penultimate stage taking competitors from Donegal town to Ardee.
Mcfaddenn – pictured above by Joe Boland, North West News Pix – had two bad falls on Thursday in the Buncrana-Dungloe leg, the longest stage at 181km, but he was back in the saddle for stage six yesterday, the 132.1km trek from Dungloe to Donegal town that included a climb over the famous Glengesh Pass.
“After the fall it was tough, but seven climbs made it tougher,” McFadden told Connor McGinty.
“The heat was phenomenal. The support out there is unreal, Glengesh was packed.
“They’re all egging you on and keeping you going. Wednesday was tough going, but that;s the nature of the beast and your just have to keep going. The standard has gone so high. There are 15 international teams out there and the pace is so hot.”
McFadden said that he felt that this would be his ‘final and last Rás’.
Yannis Yssad of France Armée de Terre claimed stage six as the Frenchman’s late attack took the win from Dennis Bakker (Netherlands Delta Cycling) in second and Daan Meijers (Netherlands Delta Cycling) in third.