Hugh Óg Mulhearne, left, has taken on his first UCI-ranked race of the season and the Irish teenager approached it very aggressively (Photo: Fabien Lenfant)
Hugh Óg Mulhearne (AS Villemur Cyclisme) has taken on his first UCI-ranked race of the year, with a very aggressive display from the Irish teenager at Bernaudeau Junior (1.1) in Vendée in western France. It featured 160 riders from 10 countries.
"The level was definitely higher," Murlhearne (17) told stickybottle. "But I was very happy to be at a point… coming home from a UCI race, saying to myself 'jeez, I could have won that'. To be near winning in a UCI is a good feeling, I'm happy."
From Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, Mulhearne was on the attack for 80km of the 130km race. And though he was caught in the closing stages, he put in a very solid shift after stepping up from the national level races he has been riding in France to the UCI-ranked event.
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Mulhearne first got clear, in a three-man move, about 40km into the race during a section of rolling hills. Though one of the riders he was with was later dropped, five more bridged across to the move about 60km into the race.
And though the peloton was chasing hard, and closed to within 10 seconds of the breakaway, the leaders dug in. Working together, they managed to pull out a much bigger advantage.
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They got to the finishing circuit, with about 30km to go, still riding very strongly as a group, before four more riders bridged across to them. However, the extra bodies in the move changed the dynamic up front.
There were four riders Team 31 Specialized in that larger breakaway group and the willingness of the others to share the workload soon began to wane. Once the urgency was lost up front, their gap came down and they were caught with about 10km to go.
Nearing the finish, the peloton was down to just 40 riders, with France's Lancelot Gayant (Team U LH) taking a flier and winning solo. He was just six seconds clear of runner-up Tristan Hardy (Team 31 Specialized).
Then came the remains of the peloton, including Mulhearne. It was led in by Julien Breugnot (CC Étupes), taking 3rd some 19 seconds down on the winner.
"The legs were definitely there, the form has been there over the last couple of weeks so I've been happy enough," Mulhearne said. "The endurance was there, I did some very good power for a long time.
"I was a bit annoyed the break didn't stick because nine times out of 10 a break like that sticks. As we were getting caught, counter attacks came from the bunch, so I kicked to go with them. But I just didn't have the legs I only had one speed at that point, I was fairly cooked."
