Simon Tuomey said the Irish team will fight all the way to win the Junior Tour and believes the final stage brings plenty of attacking opportunities (Photo: Tommy Heaney)
By Brian Canty
Simon Tuomey believes it’s still all to play for at the Scott Bicycles Junior Tour or Ireland going into the final stage tomorrow.
Tuomey and his Irish national teammate Darragh O’Mahony trail race leader Marin Joublot Ferre of AC Bisontine by 58 and 14 seconds, respectively with just tomorrow’s 77-kilometre leg to go.
“Everyone thinks tomorrow is a flat stage but it definitely is not,” said the Cork Giant man who was seventh overall last year.
“There are lots of kicks and drags and it’s perfect for a break to go away; you saw what happened last year when a break went and almost got two minutes.
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“It’s also very windy so we’ll just have to be aggressive and see what happens,” he added.
Tuomey and the Irish team were in every move today, going from the gun and attacking all day to try and unseat the yellow jersey.
“The plan was to go out very hard, attack after attack, try to force a split and hopefully isolate the yellow jersey or make him work and tire him and his team out,” explained Tuomey of the pre-race plan.
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“Myself and Marc (Heaney) were extremely aggressive for the first 40 minutes and eventually I got in a group with Darragh, the yellow jersey, Robert O’Leary and few others.
"But North California weren't represented so their team brought us back.”
As soon as it was back together, Jake Gray went up the road and wasn’t seen again by all but five riders before the line.
But Tuomey and O’Mahony were still trying to force things behind.
“The yellow jersey was struggling, but in fairness, he held it very well and responded to all the attacks. His team were strong and they set a very hard pace on the Broadford KOM.
“But it’s all to play for still; Darragh is second by 14 seconds, I’m 58 seconds down and Jake was sixth on the stage and getting closer to the green jersey so it’s been another good day.
“It would have been nice for either me or Darragh to get into yellow today but Ferre was very strong and had the help of other teams all day. Tomorrow we will try again, it’s not over yet.”
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