Cycling Club Isle of Man’s George Kimber stormed to overall victory at the Rás Tailteann on Sunday in a tense final day of racing, securing the Manx team’s biggest win to date in its four-year history.

Thanks to some superb work by Manx team-mates Ivan Sorby and Callum Salisbury, who buried themselves to ensure Kimber remained in the dwindling lead group, the 25-year-old from Cambridge held onto his five-second general classification lead in a dramatic final stage.

Kimber went into the last day of action with a slim advantage in the overall classification after a hard-earned stage win a day earlier into Mountrath.

With the local teams keen to unseat the Cycling Club Isle of Man rider and keep the spoils for themselves, the squad knew they had a difficult challenge ahead of them to retain the leader’s yellow jersey.

But Salisbury and Sorby raced well above their years in a very experienced bunch to keep Kimber at the front of the race as the group broke up over the relentlessly hilly roads.

Kimber kept his cool and paced himself perfectly to keep in touch with his closest rivals.

Only 32 riders remained at the head of the race as the group rode into Bective in County Meath and, with Kimber amongst their number, it was enough to seal victory in the general classification.

‘I don’t know how we did it to be honest. We’ve got a young team here, two guys straight out of juniors pretty much,’ explained Kimber afterwards.

‘We had to play it patiently. I didn’t think it would be that hard. It was splitting all over the place and I just had to bridge so many gaps on my own.

‘At one point I didn’t think I’d make it, but I just kept going for the pride of the jersey. They must have eased up and I managed to get over, but I honestly don’t know how.’

It was a huge team effort from all sides and cheering on from the sidelines were team-mates Michael Faid and Dexter Mansel-Thomas.

The pair had been forced to quit the race earlier in the week after doing a huge amount of work to keep the team in a strong position in the opening days.

Only one person can ultimately win a race, but cycling is a team sport and the whole squad raced superbly throughout the week of action.

Cycling Club Isle of Man would like to thank the organisers of the Rás Taillteann for once again putting on a superb race and are already looking forward to heading back and attempting to defend the title next year.

The team would also like to thank all of its sponsors who have supported CCIoM through its journey so far, without whom it wouldn’t have been able to achieve this prestigious victory.

These include: primary sponsor Group Eleven who have been with the team since the beginning, car sponsor Motormall Isle of Man, nutrition partner N-Fuse Sports, technical partners Bikestyle Isle of Man and Cycle 360, and kit supplier Pro Vision.