Dillon Corkery puts in strong shift at Tour des Alpes-Maritimes | Video

Dillon Corkery, centre in yellow, has given a good account of himself on the opening stage at Tour des Alpes-Maritimes (Photo: Nathalie Teyssier)

Dillon Corkery (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93) has continued his first weeks in the pro peloton with another solid performance on the opening stage of Tour des Alpes-Maritimes (2.1) in France today.

Having gotten over a number of climbs to be in the mix in a final sprint on the recent Etoile de Bessèges (2.1), the 25-year-old Irish rider put in a repeat performance today as the main field was trimmed right back after several climbs.

He told stickybottle it was a "messy finish" with some riders in the bunch letting gaps open as the speeding bunch negotiated roundabouts in the final. Corkery added he also spent the stage working for team mates, meaning he was not entirely free to aim for his own result.

He was also distanced on one of the early climbs and found himself in a group two minutes back the road, though it rejoined the front section of the peloton.

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"I was able to recover a bit on the finishing circuit," he said of the lap negotiated four times. "A circuit like that is really good for me so I did my best to stay protected while also doing what I could for the lads, keeping them in the best place possible."

Corkery added tomorrow's stage would be "brutal", with six climbs including a cat 3 to finish. He would focus on working for the team and then surviving the day and was looking forward to riding Le Samyn in Belgium in 10 days.

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Today's 165.5km stage 1 - of two - in France took the riders from Levens to Antibes. It was won by Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) from Sean Flynn (Team dsm-firmenich Post NL) and Vincenzo Albanese (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

Corkery placed 25th, just on the wrong side of split to finish six seconds down, but appears to be coping well with the longer harder racing since moving up to the pro bunch this year after competing with elite French team CC Étupes last season.

Liam O'Brien, the Irish 18-year-old riding for Lidl-Trek Future Racing was 83rd today at 5:43 as his apprenticeship gathers pace in his first year out of the juniors.

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