The Irish U23 rider made the first large breakaway and then pressed on from that in a five-man move in what was a short sharp undulating stage. He would claim 3rd place; the best of his career.
Cormac Mcgeough on podium at Tour of the Gila
Having recently declared for Ireland and secured a place on a pro team Cormac Mcgeough has now taken a career-best result.
The 21-year-old made the winning breakaway on stage 2 of the Tour of the Gila. It survived to the finish and Mcgeough was 3rd on the day.
“I’m quite pleased with the ride,” he said. “It is my best result yet. The course was perfectly suited for me with climbs and technical roads early on in the stage.
“That was followed by a long flat headwind section and then a tailwind climb and descent to the finish.
Advertisement
“I tried to do as little work as possible. The group worked exceptionally well together.
“Janier Acevedo, who was in the break, had GC ambitions so he was putting everything into the pace at the end.
“That led to a relatively controlled sprint at the end. I would have preferred a bit of chaos. I could have snook away and won in. But I’m happy with third.”
Hagens Berman Axeon's Chris Blevins took the stage in a sprint from the five-man breakaway.
Related News
He edged out Daniel Jaramillo (UnitedhealthCare). Cormac Mcgeough, now riding for Jelly Belly-Maxxis, was next at two seconds.
Then came Cullen Easter (303 Project) and Janier Acevedo (UnitedhealthCare); the latter moving up to 3rd overall.
They were 1:31 ahead of the peloton, which was trimmed right down to 50 riders after a hard stage.
It took the riders some 120.7km and started and finished in Fort Bayard, with three categorised climbs.
There was intense competition for position before the intermediate sprint at 10km. And between the gallop and the climbers’ prime at 18.7km a six man breakaway went clear.
Behind the breakaway there was plenty of interest in attacking after it. And 12 more riders got across.
Soon after the five-man escape moved clear from the large leading group. And with two UnitedhealthCare men up the road, and riding for time, the escapees were gone.
Their gap hit a maximum of 4:20 just before the halfway point, putting Acevedo into the virtual race lead, though it was reduced by the finish.
Oscar Eduardo Sanchez (Canels Specialized) had won the opening stage on the Mogollon summit finish.
Mcgeough, the only Irish rider in the race, was a solid 30th. He was some 3:32 down on a day when the field was scattered, mostly in ones and twos, 29 minutes over the road.
The stage 2 performance moved Mcgeough up to 11th overall. In the stage 3 TT, which concluded last night Irish time, Mcgeough was 39th.
The 26km test in Tyrone was won by Serghei Tvetcov from UnitedhealthCare team mate Gavin Mannion, who was 25 seconds down.
Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling) was in 3rd place a further six seconds back. Tour of the Gila winner three years ago, Rob Brittan of Rally Cycling, now leads overall.
He has 57 seconds on Mannion, whose father Tommy Mannion is a former top amateur Irish cyclist from Tuam. Mcgeough is now in 20th overall at 5:15 with two stages remaining.
Topics
