Julian Dean finished strongly in the sprinters' final opportunity to finish second on today's 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia.
Dean (Garmin Transitions) was second behind Andrew Greipel (Columbia HTC) who rode off the wheel of another kiwi Greg Henderson (Sky) who had to be content with fourth in the 151km stage along Lake Garda to Brescia.
With double stage winner and leading Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar having withdrawn from the tour, there was an opportunity for Dean to show his talents and prove he is among the best sprinters in the world.
There was no change at the top of the order with David Arroyo (ESP) remaining his lead with two monstrous days remaining in the mountain ahead of the final time trial in Verona to complete the first of the Grand Tours.
Meanwhile Marc Ryan moved up in general classification on the fifth stage of The Ras cycle tour in Ireland today.
Ryan bided his time and came home strongly despite the tough uphill finish on Seskin Hill after the 157km stage from Tipperary. He finished sixth on the stage, 25 seconds down on winner Jon Tieman-Locke which moves the BikeNZ rider up 10 places to 22nd overall, 4m28s behind the leader, Sweden's Alexander Wetterhall who now clings to a mere eight second advantage after missing the break.
The BikeNZ team enjoyed a strong day with early attacks by Shane Archbold while Wes Gough and Aaron Gate rode superbly to cover the key breaks.
Ryan got into a 20-strong break halfway into the stage which moved out to two minutes, and remained clear despite the attentions of the team of the yellow jersey that missed the break.
The leaders broke up in the final demanding hill climb with Ryan moving well to finish sixth.
"It went alright for finishing up a hill," Ryan said. "I didn't commit too much when we first got away but still rolled through to see how it developed, and then once I knew it was going to stay away I started riding pretty hard and trying to split the group up a wee bit.
"The last climb was pretty tough. I got gapped at the bottom and rode my own pace up and was pretty happy with how I was climbing and my condition in general given that this is our first race on the campaign."
Tomorrow's sixth stage of 127km to from Carrick On Suir – the home of Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly – to Gorey includes six categorised climbs.
Overall classification, The Ras Tour, Ireland after five stages:
Alexander Wetterhall (SWE – Team Sprocket Pro) 14:45.40, 1; Josef Kugler (NED – KTM) at 8 seconds, 2; Peter Williams (GBR – Motorpoint Pasta) at 59s, 3.
New Zealanders: Marc Ryan at 4:48, 22; Wes Gough at 9:13, 40; Shane Archbold at 17:08, 591; Aaron Gate at 21:12, 65.
