A clearly dazed Mike Cuming holds his head by the side of the road having hit a ditch littered with rocks. Bleeding from a head wound he was pulled out of the race Rás doctor Julian Dalby (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
Placed fifth overall at the halfway point of the An Post Rás after the finish of stage 4 into Newport, Co Mayo, yesterday; British rider Mike Cuming was looking good for a strong overall showing.
However, his race came to an abrupt end around half way through today’s stage on the road to Ballina when he came down hard in a crash.
The JLT Condor man sustained a nasty head injury – as these photos by Sportsfile’s Paul Mohan reveal.
He was flung into the grass verge and it is believed he hit his head on a rock and was pulled out of the race by doctor Julian Dalby.
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The crash occurred around halfway through the stage, with the field having completed some 70km and reaching the area close to the Barr na Trá hot spot sprint.
Cuming was not the only faller, with Irish man David Montgomery of Belgian Continental ranked outfit Team 3M also coming down very hard.
Cuming was not going to be allowed get back on his bike; Dr Julian Dalby doing the responsible thing and ending the 24-year-old's race (Photo: Paul Mohan - Sportsfile)
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At the time of writing Cuming had been taken to hospital to received medical treatment for his injuries and for a series of tests due to the fact he hit his head.
It means his team is now without their main general classification challenger, with the next of John Herety’s men overall being Ed Laverack who is in 44th place some 29:13 down on yellow jersey Lukas Postlberger of Tirol Cycling.
Cuming had ridden very well on the opening four stages and his team obviously had confidence he could finish the job; going to the front on several occasions to close gaps to protect his overall position.
He was 10th on stage 1 to Carlow and finished 16th on stage 2, making the lead group of 28.
On Tuesday’s stage 3 he placed 6th in the sprint from the depleted peloton that settled the honours into Bearna and yesterday came home in 13th, just 47 seconds down on winner Aidis Kruopis (An Post-Chainreaction).
He was British U23 champion in 2012 and won the Tour of Korea overall in 2013. The 24-year-old won a stage in Korea last year as well as a stage in the Mzansi Tour in South Africa.
He has been a Continental rider since 2010, spending one season with Raleigh GAC before moving to Rapha Condor in 2012 and remaining with that squad, now named JLT Condor, to the present day.
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