Seán Nolan endured a professional stage race debut to forget when he was forced to abandon Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on the opening day.
The Meath teenager, who is riding for Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing this year, battled on for as long as he could on the undulating 168.9km stage 1 from Elche to Ondara on Wednesday but eventually was forced out.
His troubles began even before the start
when he experienced a problem with his bike and was forced in a panicked
situation of trying to get sorted before the off; always a stressful
experience.
However, Nolan eventually got those problems resolved and rolled out from the start beside his team mates near the front of the bunch.
About the midway point in the stage, and after the first
two climbs had been negotiated, Nolan was getting it rough and went out the
back of the group, as other riders also did.
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However, while he may have clawed his way back
descending, he suffered a slow puncture and there was also no service
available.
Finding himself alone on the road, he had no option but to persist for 50km - including up and down a major climb - on the deflating tyre. It eventually went completely flat despite a spectator allowing him to use his pump.
“Finally after what felt like
forever, the broom wagon caught up to me,” he said of the last vehicle on the
road that picks up any riders who have to abandon.
“With still 20km to go and no sign of a spare wheel I had to bite the bullet and get in the broom wagon,” Nolan added. That obviously brought his stage and his race to a cruel end.
As Nolan was
going off the back and the race was splitting, the team cars must go forward
and cannot remain behind their last rider.
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However, neutral support
cars are deployed to give support to the riders off the back in the event they puncture
or need any other assistance.
But on Wednesday’s stage there were too many groups on the road to cover with neutral service vehicles and so Nolan was missed by neutral service after his EvoPro Racing team car had earlier been obliged by the commissaire to go forward as the race was splitting.
Nolan said while he did not want his first professional stage race to end in those circumstances, especially on the first day of racing, he had to accept what had happened and move on from it.
While the former Navan Road Club rider, and Irish cyclocross international, was forced out of the race, his young compatriot and team mate Ben Walsh remains in the action.
The 21-year-old has been getting used to racing at a much higher intensity in very big company over the last three days and finished in the peloton on stage 2 when the bunch was reduced to 80 riders.
Today’s stage 3 featured a summit
finish and was won by Enric Mas; the Movistar rider also taking over the
race lead. Walsh, who is riding his first pro stage race in Continental Europe,
was in a large group 26 minutes down.
There remains tomorrow’s TT and Sunday’s flat concluding
stage, with Walsh well on the way to his first stage race finish at this level.
We’ll catch up with him for a chat in coming days.
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