Jake Gray has not had the start he would have hoped for at the Scott Junior Tour of Ireland after picking up a significant time penalty on top of losing 17 seconds to stage winner and race leader Matteo Jorgenson (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
By Brian Canty
The Irish National Team has suffered a setback in its bid to win the Scott Junior Tour of Ireland after Jake Gray was given a 30-second penalty for crossing the white line during the opening 6.2km prologue.
After a brilliant tenure as a junior to date over the last 18 months, Gray was first down the start-ramp in Ennis, Co Clare, and he was eager to set the early benchmark over the course.
He came into the race as one of the favourites courtesy of his recent superb form and his top 10 overall last year.
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However, he emerged from the stage having been penalised 30 seconds.
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In the communiqué the reason for the sanction is stated as: "Failure to obey Statutory Traffic Regulations or laws. Article 12.1."
On top of the 17 seconds he lost to stage winner Matteo Jorgenson of the American Hot Tubes team Gray is now 47 seconds down on the general classification.
That puts him in 43rd place starting tomorrow’s opening road stage.
And to compound his troubles he was also placed last of the 100 riders in the stage result.
At the time of writing we understand the decision would not been overturned.
However, while it was a bad start for one of Ireland's biggest hopes in the race, the penalty is far from insurmountable.
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