Having had an Irish team in the last two editions of the Tour de l’Avenir, there will be no national squad in the race when it begins in France tomorrow.
Reserved
for U23 riders and regarded as the Tour de France of that category, the absence
of an Irish team from the race is a blow for Irish cycling.
However,
that has not stopped two Irish riders securing a place in the field, with Ben
Healy and Darragh O’Mahony set to ride of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre team
in the event.
Healy
is currently in his first seaon with British Continental team Le Col Wiggins
while O’Mahony has spent the past two seasons in France with CC Nogent-sur-Oise.
Both riders represented Ireland in the European Road Championships in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, last weekend.
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O’Mahony
is on something of a high having received a stagiaire call up to EvoPro Racing
for the remainder of the season.
He
also won the U23 Irish road race crown at the National Road Championships in
Derry City six weeks ago; his first ever Irish title.
While
the Tour de l’Avenir will be a new experience for first-year U23 rider Healy, O’Mahony
is an old hand in the French stage race.
He
competed on the national team in the event last year and the year before and rode
very well.
Two
years ago on stage 4 he was part of a breakaway that gained four minutes.
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As
it was being caught the Irish rider attacked it and spent 20km out front alone,
only being caught very close to the line.
The
10-stage race gets underway tomorrow with a 128.8km opener starting and finishing in Marmande.
While
there are flat and undulating stages in the opening week, the first really big
test comes on stage 8.
It
starts in Brides-les-Bains and takes the riders just 23.1km,
but all of that bar the first 300 metres is up the HC Col de la Loze; some
22.3km at 7.7 per cent.
The following day finishes atop the cat 1 summit of Tignes;
where stage 19 of the Tour de France was set to finish but for the stage being
halted while Egan Bernal was on the attack.
And
the day after that the race finishes with a very bruising stage 10; some 78.1km
from Saint-Colomban-des-Villard to Le Corbier.
It
may be short but it is epic, featuring the 9.9km Col du Glandon averaging 8.1
per cent followed immediately by the Croix de Fer – the two mountains
effectively one continuous climb.
Then
comes the Col du Mollard, some 5.8km at 6.8 per cent. The finish is effectively
20km of almost interrupted climbing, with four ascents one after the other.
Last
year Eddie Dunbar was 8th overall at the Tour de l’Avenir as Tadej
Pogačar, now a leading WorldTour rider, claimed the overall title.
Dunbar
really excelled towards the back end of the race when the climbing was hardest,
narrowly being beaten on the Col du Glandon for victory on the final stage.
He
had to settle for 2nd place behind Swiss national team rider Gino
Mäder, who has since stepped up to Dimension Data.
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