Darnell Moore has made his pro debut with Vitus Pro
Cycling, coming through the bruising Le Samyn to finish the race.
Moore, who has been riding on the amateur scene in
Ireland until now, set out on the 201.9km course facing WorldTour opposition,
plenty of cobbles and wet weather.
However, despite the significant ramping up in the racing
distance and intensity of effort - at the same time - he finished the event,
coming home in 92nd place.
He was just over 10 minutes down on the breakaway group
that survived to the finish to fight it out for victory.
The event in Belgium was won in a sprint from that escape
group by Hugo Hofstetter (Israel
Start-Up Nation) from Aimé De Gendt (Circus-Wanty Gobert) and David Dekker (SEG Racing Academy).
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The top three out-smarted Deceuninck-QuickStep even through it had both last year’s winner Florian Sénéchal and Davide Ballerini in the breakaway group.
Moore, who rode last year with the Caldwell Cycles club
in Ireland, was making his debut at this level after signing for Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK in the off season.
It was a challenging race for the 23-year-old to be
thrown into yesterday, especially as the weather was wet and led to muddy
conditions. But that fact he was able to finish will give him confidence.
Fellow Irishman Chris McGlinchey, who is also in the same
team, started yesterday’s race but was among the many non-finishers.
Ryan Mullen continued his spring campaign with Trek-Segafredo in the same race and finished in 50th place some 4:57 down on the winner.
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