Jake Gray of the Irish National Team was the best performer of the homes riders at the Junior Tour of Ireland on stage 4 in Co Clare (Photo courtesy Tommy Heaney)
By Brian Canty
Bjorn Larson of the Holowesko Citadel pb Hincapie team took a brilliant victory on stage 4 of the Scott Junior Tour of Ireland this afternoon.
He jumped away from four fellow breakaway men inside the final 10 kilometres of today’s 110-kilometre stage and held on all the way to the line in Ballyvaughan, winning by 17 seconds.
Second was Etienne Georgi (Giant Halo) who put in a monstrous ride to lead the race for much of the day but he was reeled in by a chasing group of four.
The leading five built a one-minute maximum advantage on the bunch, which contained the yellow jersey of Giant Halo, Charlie Meredith.
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Third today was Jake Gray of the Irish National Team and that’s another fine ride by him as he tries to piece together his race.
It got off to such a bad start on Tuesday when he was penalised in the prologue for encroaching on the white line.
Meredith still leads overall, though is tied on time with teammate Matthew Cox. Robert O'Leary of the Irish National Team is still third at three seconds.
With the top 13 riders - six of them Irish - separated by less than a minute it should mean a cracking stage tomorrow.
How in unfolded…
Today the riders tackled a 110-kilometre stage which featured five climbs - three Cat 1s and two Cat 3s - before finishing in Ballyvaughan.
Calvin Moore of Cycling Ulster was first to go on the attack and he was later joined by Oran Pierse (Tarrant Skoda Munster Academy) and Theo Hartley (Prologue RT) in the first meaningful escape of the day.
However, the bunch was having none of it and they scooped up that trio before the first climb; the cat 1 Corkscrew Hill after 18.2 kilometres.
Charles Velez of the NCCF Specialized Team was first over the top followed by Connacht Team man Eoghan McLoughlin, with Aaron Kearney of the NRPT-Magnet.ie team next in third.
McLoughlin went one better on the next climb after 21 kilometres.
After that went the next move of the day; Noah Putt (Hot Tubes), yesterday's stage winner Robert O’Leary (Ireland national team) and Marc Heaney (Cycling Ulster) going clear.
Putt soon jumped clear on his own as they descended through the Burren while the bunch caught the Irish duo.
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The lone escapee was soon reeled back in as a fresh wave of attacks followed.
On the third climb of the day after 42 kilometres, Etienne Georgi (Giant Halo) broke clear and he was followed by four chasers who forged a one-minute lead on the bunch.
In that chasing quartet were Wyatt Goral (Holowesko Citadel pb Hincapie), Ryan Coulton (Provision Junior Academy), the aforementioned Putt and Arjan Kuiten (Tempo-Hoppenbrouwers Veldhoven).
Georgi was really going well and he was over a minute clear of the chase group that would soon be caught by the bunch.
Jake Gray (Ireland National Team) was next to go on the attack from the bunch.
He went off the front and was joined by Bjorn Larson (Holowesko Citadel pb Hincapie), Cole Davis (NCCF Team Specialized) and Gage Hect (Hot Tubes).
Lone leader Georgi would take the points at the top of the fifth and final climb which came 35 kilometres before the line.
Alas, the effort took its toll on him and he was caught by the four chasers.
Gray was now looking really good for a top result as they worked a one-minute advantage on the bunch.
Back in the peloton was the yellow jersey of Charlie Meredith (Giant Halo) who chased anything that attempted to go clear.
Up ahead, Larson and Hect went away as the attacking started, leaving the other three – including Gray - behind.
They were all back together again inside 10km to go but that didn’t stop the action at the head of affairs.
Larson put in a searing attack to surge clear and he hung on to the line, taking victory from Georgi and Gray with Davis, Hecht and Colton Brookshire (Specialized) filling the minor placings.
Meredith held yellow for another day but Gray managed to take enough points to see him end the day in that jersey.
Irishman Eoghan McLoughlin (Connacht) took the KOH jersey after a brilliant performance.
Matthew Cox (Giant Halo) is still in the first-year junior riders’ jersey.
Tomorrow’s stage takes the riders on a 105-kilometre journey from Ennis to the summit finish of Gallows Hill outside Cratloe in the south of the county.
And with four climbs beforehand it promises to be another enthralling afternoon.
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