Gunther won the 2014 Ras de Cymru on Sunday 13th July by finishing 2nd on the final stage. The 5-day stage race for 100 cat 2,3 and 4 riders comprises mainly of four man (or women) teams.

Phoenix were represented by Gunther along with Dave Bird, Jason Creswell and Miles Butler. The race began on Wednesday 9th July with a team time trial. Phoenix put in a solid ride to finish just in the top half of a closely contested stage with very small time gaps. The team thought Gunther had a good chance of a high general classification finish, but were all surprised when an opportunistic move during the final of Thursday’s 2nd stage put him in the yellow race leader’s jersey.

Friday saw a morning hilly road stage followed by an individual TT with a hill climb finish. Gunther finished safely in the bunch in the morning before placing an impressive 2nd in the afternoon TT. In the process he recorded the fastest time of the day on the climb and would be in yellow for another day.

On Saturday a successful break away win meant there would be no Phoenix rider in yellow for Sunday’s final stage. But the team were quietly confident as the stage would culminate with a 6km ascent of the Brecon Beacons and Gunther was climbing as well as anyone, and better than his closest GC riders.

On Sunday a benign two man break went away comprising of two London Dynamo riders. The rest of the contenders seemed happy to let it drift off and there were no fireworks until the foot of Llangynidr mountain by which stage the break had been caught. Gunther along with Stephen Williams, a light weight climber from Wales Youth Team, set about shredding the peloton and by half way up the climb the two were clear. Now it was just about riding as hard as possible putting time into the other GC contenders. Williams was gifted the win at the summit, but Gunther had done more than enough to win the overall classification.

The Ras de Cymru is the most prestigious regional category event in the calender and just about the most significant win possible in a cat 2 field. The points from the race mean Gunther won’t have the chance to defend next year, as he is now cat 1.