Dean Harvey has been forced to abandon Tour de l’Avenir, with his forced exit on yesterday’s stage coming on the same day Team Ireland missed out on the 19-man breakaway that gained 2½ minutes on the peloton.
Harvey is a very experienced campaigned and the national cyclocross and criterium champion. His presence in the team made it a much strong unit, as he had gone up the road during his previous appearance in this race and could also have supported a general classification bid, if any of the team was well placed through the race.
However, Harvey was very unfortunate to come down in a crash on Sunday’s stage 1, which left him with a serious injury that meant continuing in the race was impossible, even though he did his best during yesterday’s stage 2.
Just as the main breakaway of the day was going on Sunday’s 188.6km stage to Saint-Galmier there was a group crash just ahead of Harvey, with the Irish rider being taken down.
He suffered the usual abrasions but managed to get back on his bike a finish the stage, albeit some 19 minutes down in 147th place. However, though he tried to start yesterday’s stage 2 – with team mate Adam Rafferty 4th overall – he has suffered a tear to his calf muscle.
While that had resulted in a lot of pain as he struggled to the finish on stage 1 after his crash, it worsened during yesterday’s stage and he was forced to abandon at about the halfway point.
Harvey is racing in France this year with Martigues Sport Cyclisme Payden-Rygel and, having already won two national titles this season, he also claimed a stage of Tour Cycliste International de Martinique last month.
He was part of a very strong unit on this race, which includes World Tour rider Jamie Meehan, Giro Next Gen stage winners Adam Rafferty and Seth Dunwoody, one of the top climbers on the Europen U23 scene, Liam O’Brien, and Shay Elliott Memorial winner Ronan O’Connor.
Though Team Ireland lost time yesterday, there is plenty of time to regain those losses and mount and general classification. And if that proves to be the case, Harvey’s absence will be felt.
