Connor McConvey has said he hopes to get a professional contract and he will have done his chances no harm in recent days in Estonia.
Connor McConvey has continued his very good season to date, taking 10th overall in the Tour of Estonia when it finished yesterday, Saturday.
The race was a UCI 2.1 ranked event, which means it was a step up from the An Post Rás (2.2). It was the highest level the Belfast man has raced at this season, his first year with new Continental team Synergy Baku.
The race in Estonia offered little opportunity for McConvey to use his climbing prowess to make a bigger impact, with three of the four stages ending in a bunch sprint.
However, while McConvey had to be content with finishing in the peloton on those stages, he put in a great ride in the short stage 2 TT. It included some climbing, as well as cobbled sections he is well used to having ridden with An Post-Sean Kelly during three seasons in Belgium.
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He finished in the main bunch on Thursday morning‘s 125km opening stage, though he lost three seconds when a gap appeared in the bunch in the sprint finish won by Leonid Krasnov (Rusvelo). The stage was 10 laps of a 12.5km circuit in Viimsi.
In the 3km time trial later on Thursday in Tallinn old town, the Irish man was a very good 7th.
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The stage was won by Gert Joeaar of the Estonia national team in a time of 4:31, some 12 seconds faster than McConvey, with Swede Fredrik Ludvigsson (People4you-Unaas) in second place one second down.
In third place in the test was Stefan Schumacher (Christina Watches-Onfone); the 2008 double Tour de France stage winner who subsequently served a doping ban when his samples from that race were retested a year later and were positive for CERA.
McConvey’s ride in the time trial put him 8th overall, some 15 seconds down on race leader and TT winner Joeaar.
There then followed a 185km road stage on Friday and another 150km leg to conclude the race yesterday. McConvey was 50th in the bunch finish on Friday and on Saturday was again in the bunch, in 42nd place when the race ended in Tartu.
That left him 10th on the final overall, some 15 seconds behind TT winner Joeaar of Estonia. The Irishman slipped two places overall as a result of time bonuses on the final stages.
However, it was a very good result which he adds to his second place overall in the Rás the week before last and his climbers’ classification win at the Tour d’Azerbaijan two weeks before the Rás.
McConvey was also second in a stage in the Tour of Thailand early in the season and finished 5th overall there.
The Tour of Estonia featured a number of Pro Continental teams as well as some strong national selections, including squads from Estonia, Finland and Belarus. The trade teams in the field included: Androni-Venezuela, CCC Polsat Polkowice, Rusvelo, Amore & Vita, Continental Astana, Christina Watches and Froy Bianchi.
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