Mark Dowling sits in second wheel up a climb on stage 3 of Kreiz Breizh; The DID Dunboyne man excelled for Team Ireland on his international debut (Pic: Josselin Riou)
By Jessica Lamb
Mark Dowling has finished his international debut in France just over two minutes down on the Kreiz Breizh Elite race general classification and in the top five climbers.
Dowling, competing as part of a strong Team Ireland, made his presence felt on stage 1 of the UCI 2.2 ranked event, riding aggressively to take the climbers' points and went into stage 2 in third in that classification.
He held his own again on the four big climbs during Sunday's stages 2 and 3 - a morning road stage followed by another in the afternoon - losing just 42s and 44s on Fredrik Strand Galta (Team Coop Osterhus), who won both races.
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On Sunday morning's stage 2, Dowling was on the attack though the moves he slipped into were brought back.
He achieved his highest stage placing on today's final and toughest stage; finishing 17th after 163km of hilly racing from Plouguernevel to Rostrenen and securing 38th place in the over standings.
The Irish riders got a good test this weekend, but one where they could be competitive; an important development for a team made up of riders mainly from the domestic scene.
Dowling finished best of the five Irish riders who made it to the end, just 2:10 off Norwegian August Jensen (Team Coop Oster), who had taken the lead on stage 2.
Mark Downey was never far behind teammate Dowling and completed the four-stage race in 42nd with Team 3M rider Connor McConvey 53rd.
Team Ireland's Marc Potts was 56th with Matthew Teggart in 59th and Sean McKenna the last Irish rider to finish in 77th.
Sean Hahessy's mechanical problems saw him drop out after stage 3 and Dominic Jelfs (Madison Genesis) and Daniel Stewart (Hennebont Cycling) was listed as a non finisher stage 4.
Sean Hahessy chases back on in vain during stage 3, which would be his last at Kreiz Breizh; he finished outside the time-limit and was forced to abandon. (Pic: Josselin Riou)
Things did not go to plan for McConvey early in the weekend, losing a lot of time on stage 1.
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But the 27-year-old showed his true form on Monday when attacking with Madison Genesis rider Liam Holohan.
As the day's main breakaway was swallowed up with 27km and three laps of the Rostrenen circuit to go, McConvey and Holohan jumped away from the tiring peloton.
Their alone time was short-lived, but so was that of all the breakaways, the winner Jensen's team hunting down all attackers to give him the best position on the ramp to the line.
Stage 4: Plouguernével to Rostrenen 163.2km
1 August Jensen (Team Coop Osterhus) 4:11:01
2 Elie Gesbert (Team Pays de Dinan) s/t
3 Sergey Nikolaev (Team Russia) 03s
4 Hamisch Schreurs (Sojasun Espoir ACNC) s/t
5 Nicolas David (Hennebont Cyclisme) s/t
6 Jeremy Cornu (Vendee U) s/t
17 Mark Dowling (Team Ireland) s/t
39 Matt Teggart (Team Ireland) 15s
41 Conor McConvey (Team 3M) 18s
44 Mark Downey (Team Ireland) 23s
63 Mark Potts (Team Ireland) 2:04
74 Sean McKenna (Team Ireland) 09:22
DNF Dominic Jelfs (Madison Genesis), Daniel Stewart (Hennebont Cycling)
Final General Classification
1 August Jensen (Team Coop Osterhus) 13:10:35
2 Elie Gesbert (Team Pays De Dinan) 0:09
3 Stéphane Poulhies (Occitane Cyclisme Formation) 0:12
4 Aurelien Paret Peintre (Chambery Cyclisme Formation) 0:17
5 Fredrik Strand Galta (Team Coop Osterhus) 0:44
6 Remy Rochas (Chambery Cyclisme Formation) 01:02
38 Mark Dowling (Team Ireland) 02:10
42 Mark Downey (Team Ireland) 03:34
53 Connor McConvey (Team 3M) 12:27
56 Mark Potts (Team Ireland) 14:13
59 Matthew Teggart (Team Ireland) 14:37
77 Sean McKenna (Team Ireland) 27:34
Climbers' Classification
1 SEIGNEUR F. SOJ 38 pts
2 LEPLINGARD A. VU 28
3 LAAS M. EST 26
4 SCHREURS H. SOJ 22
5 DOWLING M. IRL 16
Team Classification
1 CHAMBERY CYCLISME FORMATION 39:34:26
2 BREST IROISE CYCLISME 2000 01:38
3 VENDEE U PAYS DE LA LOIRE s/t
4 SOJASUN ESPOIR ACNC 01:47
5 RABOBANK DEVELOPMENT TEAM 02:04
6 CYCLINGTEAM JO PIELS 02:09
10 TEAM IRELAND 15:27
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