Killian O'Brien got a taste of climbing at high altitude and said it was very much a game of two halves
Killian O'Brien (Team Skyline) has gotten his first taste of climbing at high altitude - at Tour of the Gile (2.2) in the US - and told stickybottle the experience was very much a game of two halves, on a day when Cian Keogh (APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence Cyclery) was in the breakaway.
Racing to the summit finish of stage 2 - climbing the cat 1 ascent of Mogollon - O'Brien (20) said he was well positioned, though got a bit bumped around when the climb flattened out a little, in a crosswind section.
From that point, the 2,100 altitude began to kick in, with the warning lights coming on for the Irishman, who said he cracked on the 4.3km climb, averaging 5.5 per cent, all of which was at altitude.
He eventually finished in 24th place, some 2:01 down on stage winner, and new race leader, Colombian Robinson Fabián López (GW Erco SportFitness) after 148km of racing; pan flat until the final sting.
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Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence Cyclery), who was 11th in the opening stage TT on Wednesday, finished in 53rd at 4:21. His Irish team mate, breakaway man Keogh, was 118th, some 18 minutes down.
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"The stage was super easy all day, 135 watts for the first 2½ hours,” O'Brien said, adding as he had a team mate in the breakaway, his team was relived of any responsibility to get on the front.
“Logan (O'Krafka) positioned me perfectly until 2km before the climb. I just surfed wheels through the chaos then until it kicked up. Over the first four minutes of the climb I felt great and was up there in the top 20.
“Then there was a 2km plateau with a ripping cross wind. Without teammates, I was shuffled back by all of the team trains bringing all of their boys up in the wind. So I started the final climb 40th or so.
“I hung on for about two minutes on the final ramp. Then I completely cracked at what should be threshold power for me. I just crawled to the finish at what is normally lt1 (aerobic threshold) but it’s all I could do.
“I think a lot of guys were in the same boat, struggling with the altitude. It was a Vuelta sort stage, a complete hockey stick. I’m up to 7th young rider now.
“But, to be honest, I was really hoping to be at least top five and possibly top three after today. There’s still a few hard days to go, so hopefully I can pull it back a bit.”
