Gray fights to finish after trying day for Irish juniors at Worlds

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Jake Gray was one of the many crash victims in today's junior men's road race at the World Championships in Doha, the Irish team leader coming down in a spill as the riders wound up for the bunch sprint at the end of the 135-kilometre contest. (Photo: Sean Rowe)

By Brian Canty

Jake Gray was the sole Irish finisher in the junior men’s road race at the World Championships in Doha today, the young Dungannon man battling all the way after one of the hardest editions in recent memory.

The NRPT-Magnet.ie man crossed the line in a large group 5’44” down on the winner; not what he would have hoped for, but a battling ride in the circumstances.

Gray was confident of taking a strong result in the bunch sprint and when he locked onto the wheel of Belgian rider GerbenThijssen things were looking very good for a top 20 finish.

But a touch of wheels towards the front of the group saw the Belgian go down hard and left Gray with nowhere to go but to the floor.

And so late in the race it meant it was game over for him.

The plan for the Irish team was to keep Gray fresh as possible for the expected bunch sprint but when a crash after 80 kilometres led to the main break being formed, the young Irishman missed out.

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Xeno Young passes through the feed-zone during today's junior men's road race at the world championships in Doha. The first-year junior was listed as a non-finisher after getting caught up in a crash in the opening half of the race. He battled for as long as he could before succumbing to the inevitable. (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Most of the top nations did make that split and it meant Gray could only sit and watch as the escapees forged clear.

The gap always remained around a minute, though in the end it widened closer to two minutes.

Julius Johansen of Denmark surged clear of that break inside 10 kilometres to go as the others stalled momentarily and that allowed the eventual winner Jakob Egholm whip across to him.

The pair combined brilliantly to form a coalition which saw the former drive the pace to forge a gap and Egholm jumpe clear to win solo from Niklas Markl of Germany who was seven seconds back and edged Swiss Reto Muller.

For the other Irish, Xeno Young and Ronan Tuomey, the day was less than fruitful as they were listed as non-finishers after getting caught in a crash that claimed both of them.

Both were towards the rear of the peloton when a touch of wheels on the right-hand side of the bunch brought Tuomey down first and he accidentally fell into Young who also hit the deck.

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Gerben Thijssen of Belgium had some serious road rash at the end of the race today and just in the shot here is Jake Gray who came down in the same high-speed crash. (Photo: Sean Rowe)

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Prior to that incident, Young had been off the front for a while but with the bunch chasing hard he was never likely to last out there.

The race was a real mess in the early stages with the furious pace resulting in some really aggressive racing and sadly, plenty spills.

Irish manager Martin O’Loughlin said it was the busiest day in the medical tent today and the crashes could have been caused by the intense heat that few of the riders would have been acclimatised to.

“Xeno had a pop off the front and just as he drifted to the back after getting caught a guy in front of him came down, Ronan [Tuomey] was back there too, and they both came down,” said O’Loughlin.

“I think the luck of the Irish deserted us today. The heat probably contributed to a lot of the crashes but it was the busiest day for the medical centre here.”

We'll have a word with Gray soon.