Crashes, gridding conspire against Irish riders at European Champs | Video

The Irish riders in action, before the rain made the course a mud bath, in Pontchâteau at the European Cyclocross Championships (Photo: Massimo Fulgenzi-Sprint Cycling Agency)

The Irish junior and U23 riders endured a difficult day out at the European Cyclocross Championships in France yesterday, when poor gridding positions conspired with crashes, for some, to put them on the back foot.

However, the racing in Pontchâteau was an excellent learning opportunity for our junior riders, who look like real prospects for the future - on road and in cyclocross - and were getting their first exposure to competition at this level.

In the U23 men's race, Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing), Travis Harkness (VC Glendale) and Jamie Meehan (Spellman Dublin Port) flew the flag for Ireland in an event won by Belgium's Jente Michels, from team mate Emiel Verstrynge and France's Rémi Lelandais.

Harvey was best of the Irish, placing 41st at 7:22, with Meehan and Harkness finished in 43rd and 44th. Harvey told stickybottle he simply did not have a good day, adding conditions were very different during the race compared to practice as very heavy rain fell just before the start.

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"My foot came out of the pedal at the start, which put my towards the back," he said of a setback immediately from the gun. "From then I just couldn't get into a rhythm. I made too many mistakes and had a few crashes as well. I definitely felt I was capable of more, so it's disappointing, it just wasn't my day."

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In the men's junior race, Ireland had Joseph Mullen (Navan RC), Conor Murphy (Rostrevor MTB) and David Gaffney (Dungarvan CC). The national team in the women's junior race was comprised of perhaps three of the most promising riders we have had in the category; Greta Lawless (Team WORC), Aliyah Rafferty (Island Wheelers) and Aine Doherty (VC Glendale).

With none of the riders having raced internationally, and so being unfavourably gridded, they faced a challenge from the start; not helped by some early crashes delaying them. Harkness suffered a mechanical while Murphy also crashed.

In the end, Mullen was best placed of the Irish junior men, in 46th and some 3:49 down on winner Aubin Sparfel (France), who just beat Hungarian Zsombor Takács to the title. Murphy was 48th at 4:10 with Gaffney was 61st.

In the junior women's race, Lawless was 34th, some 5:55 down on new European champion Célia Gery (France). Rafferty was 36th at 6:22 while Doherty was 44th at 7:51.

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