The Ireland U23 team has been beset with bad luck at their first Nations Cup race of the year in France today, Wednesday, being wiped out by a combination of crashes, injury and illness.
None of the quarter of Sean Downey, Sam Bennett, Aaron Buggle and Connor Dunne finished the 175km Cote de Picardie.
Buggle and Bennett were in the lead group in today’s race when a crash involving more than twenty riders took both out of action. Buggle broke his front wheel and Bennett seems to have broken his frame.
The Irish team car was quite far back in the cavalcade and with the chaos that ensued after such a large number of riders fell, both Buggle and Bennett’s race was over.
Sean Downey appeared to be holding up well in recent days after sustaining a hairline fracture in his elbow at the Volta Limburg Classic in Holland last Saturday week. He raced in Belgium at the weekend and came through more than four hours in the rain in good shape. However, his arm flared up today, causing him extreme pain that also forced him out of action.
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Connor Dunne had been ill with food poisoning in recent days and was ruled out of action. However, he had to take to the start line today in order that Ireland would satisfy the minimum number of riders required for a nation to field a team in today’s race. However, unsurprisingly he also abandoned.
The only good news is that Bennett and Buggle do not seem to have sustained any injuries that would keep them out of the ZLM Tour Nations Cup race in Holland on Saturday.
Dunne is expected to be well enough for that assignment while the Irish camp is hopeful Downey will also be in a position to ride, though his situation will be kept under review. The quartet in action today will be joined by Felix English and Jack Wilson for Saturday’s race.
That’s a lot of bad luck today for the lads, hopefully a smoother ride awaits in Holland at the weekend.
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