Two of Ireland's six riders at the Tour de l'Avenir were forced to abandon the race on the final stage on Sunday, when a stomach bug forced JB Murphy out and severe cramps forced Kevin McCambridge to a halt.
It was an unfortunate end to the event for both riders, though both still have a number of seasons at U23 level and should get to return to the race again with the national team.
Murphy - who won medals on the track at the junior Europeans and Worlds - is aged 21 years and he should have the chance to come back again next year. McCambridge is still aged just 19 years and he should get two more chances.
The final stage on Sunday started well for the Irish, with Ben Healy and JB Murphy both getting clear in a 16-rider move not long after the start.
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And by the time they reached the first climb of the day - Col de la Madeleine with about 50km done and 100km to go - the lead group had 2½ minutes over the peloton.
Healy was one of the strongest of that group and he was still clear - one of the final three of the breakaway survivors - when Carlos Rodriguez (Spain) attacked the yellow jersey group, which was down to a select group, with 70km to go.
From that point, Rodriguez caught and passed the remaining early attackers and the yellow jersey group did the same, going on to pursue the lone leader for the remainder of the stage.
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Of the Irish, Murphy and McCambridge might have hoped to pull through and finish the race if the final stage had been easier. But there was absolutely nowhere to hide or recover on Sunday's final day of action.
The stage featured 4,179m of climbing and took in the Col de la Madeleine, Col d’Iseran as well as the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard summit finish.
After Rodriguez attacked from 70km out and Norway's Halland Johannessen twins - Tobias and Anders - were left to tow along a select group in pursuit of Rodriguez, who looked like he was riding to both stage and overall victory.
That situation, with the final yellow jersey in play for the full stage, meant the pace was on all day. Combined with the terrain, it made for a brutal day in the saddle with eight stages already in the legs.
In the end Rodriguez, wearing the climbers' jersey, took a brilliant stage win solo. However, Tobias Halland Johannessen took 4th on the stage and that was enough to hold his yellow jersey. He won the race outright from Rodriguez by just seven seconds.
Healy did well to remain in or close to the yellow jersey group until the last climb of the day, but from that point he lost time.
Healy eventually finish the stage in 33rd, some 19:50 down on winner Rodriguez. Dillon Corkery was 82nd at 32:20. Adam Ward was 95th at 33:03 and Liam Curley was 102nd at 41:37.
While Healy had been in the top 10 overall for the first half of the race, he eventually finished in 30th at 43:22. Corkery was 88th at 1:34:35. Curley - who suffered a couple of nasty crashes during the race - was 92nd overall at 1:38:36. Ward was 95th at 1:40:11.
The final two stages - 8 and 9 - of the race were especially brutal. Saturday's stage 8 saw two riders not starting, four riders abandoning and a further 16 being eliminated as they were outside the time cut.
Another 10 riders abandoned stage 9 on Sunday, bringing to 32 the number of men being taken out of the race on the final two days. Of the 174 riders who started Tour de l'Avenir 2021 the weekend before last, just 102 finished it on Sunday.
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