Ireland's Archie Ryan fought hard to limit his losses at the end of a very hard stage 6 at Tour de l'Avenir when the remains of the peloton split on the final climb of the day. The Irish rider just missed the split in the lead group, only seeing the gap when it was too late.
While he tried to close it, the distance was too big to bridge considering the firepower and speed up front. However, Ryan limited his losses to just 31 seconds on the men sprinting for the stage victory and the coming stages should suit him much better given the high mountains to come.
The Irish team lost another rider today as Rás Tailteann stage winner Kevin McCambridge was forced out of the race. While the 20-year-old had suffered a number of crashes in recent days, it was illness rather than injury which forced him out of the race before the start today.
Advertisement
His departure comes after Liam Curley (22) suffered a double crash on the opening road stage of the race and was forced out due to his injuries. It means the Irish U23 team is down to just four riders now; Ryan (20), Darren Rafferty (19), Dean Harvey (19) and Adam Ward (21).
On today's 124.6km stage from Saint-Amour to Oyonnax fireworks went off on the final climb of the day after the early breakaway had been caught. On the Cote de Ceyssiat - some 3.4km averaging 6.9 per cent - some of the big name riders in the race made their move.
Attacks about 1km from the top of the climb forced a split and though Ryan would have expected to be in the front section, given his climbing abilities, the gap opened too quickly and the 19-rider group was gone.
Related News
At the finish, one of France's best young riders Romain Grégoire (19) took the stage victory in a sprint from the group, even though he had been in a small attacking group from it that was just caught before the finish.
Loe van Belle (Netherlands) was 2nd with Davide Piganzoli (Italy) 3rd, and yellow jersey Michel Hessmann (Germany) in 4th. Among the other GC dangermen also in that front group were: Matthew Dinham (Australia), stage 4 winner Thomas Gloag (Great Britain), Alex Baudin (France), Lenny Martinez (France), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Belgium) and Leo Hayter (Great Britain).
Ireland's Ryan, who is regarded as one of the best climbers in the race on his day, ruefully shook his head as he crossed the finish line in the first chasing group behind the leaders; some nine riders at 31 seconds. However, while his time loss to the riders ahead was avoidable time, the seconds he relinquished are unlikely to cost him any placings in the final GC. He is now 21st overall, some 2:52 down on race leader Hessmann.
Aside from Ryan, who placed 24th today, Rafferty very nearly made it over the climb with the reduced peloton and eventually finished in 55th at 2:59. Harvey was 92nd in a large group at six minutes while Ward was 97th at 7:55. The team is putting its efforts around a GC result for Ryan and, once again, the Irish worked to keep him safe and protected through the stage.
There is a rest day tomorrow following by a big stage on Friday; some 175.4km from Thonon-les-Bains to Saint-François-Longchamp including the summit finish HC climb of 14.6km averaging 7.6 per cent.
