Team Ireland's Liam O'Brien cruelly misses out on a Tour victory in the final stage as Hudson Lubbers (Ignite Canada) nabs 6 bonus seconds at the line, subsequently beating out O'Brien in the GC standings (by way of a count-back in stage places).
O'Brien's teammate Oisin Ferrity managed to secure his 2nd stage win of the Tour, rounding off an impressive week. It was mixed emotions for Ferrity after taking the checkered flag, upon looking over his shoulder, it became evident that Lubbers had taken the 6 bonus seconds awarded to 2nd place. Meaning the Canadian had closed the gap to O'Brien in the General Classification standings.
As the two riders sat level on overall time at the end of today's stage, a count-back in stage place finishes ensued, and Lubbers was announced as the winner of the Junior Tour of Ireland. Brutal news for Liam O'Brien and the Team Ireland camp, who had held the yellow jersey from the very first stage.
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Liam O'Brien's misfortune perhaps began a few miles before the finish as he crashed within the final 3kms. Although this did not affect his overall time, it meant O'Brien was stripped of the chance of vying for bonus seconds at the line, which in the end proved crucial.
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The stage itself was predictably similar to yesterday's theme, a fast but controlled peloton which eliminated the weaker riders throughout the day. There was never any major doubt that a bunch sprint would conclude this year's tour.
Credit must be afforded to the Ignite Canada team, taking home the yellow jersey, the mountains jersey, a stage win and multiple podium finishes. Along with Team Ireland, the North American provided watchers with a thrilling GC battle that quite literally, came down to the wire.
O'Brien came within 1 second of ending the 6-year drought of Irish overall winners of the tour (Ben Walsh - 2017). However, this result sees him jump 17 places in comparison to his 19th overall GC finish in 2022.
The end result should not overshadow the efforts of Team Ireland and particularly of Liam O'Brien and Oisin Ferrity as the lads took 3 wins out of 5 stages, with Ferrity even bagging himself the points jersey in the final sprint.
Final General Classification Standings:
- Lubbers, Hudson IGNITE CANADA 9h29m55s (Wins due to stage places count-back)
- O’Brien, Liam IRELAND @s/t
- Colling, Kaden IGNITE CANADA @16s
- Stokes, Ben HOT TUBES @22s
- White, Magnus BOULDER JUNIOR CYCLING @s/t
- Schutte, Ryno TEMPO @s/t
- Renaud, Sasha HOT TUBES @s/t
- Foster, Alexander INNOVATION RACING @s/t
- Ferrity, Oisin IRELAND @27s
- Colquitt, Niall ISLE OF MAN @37s
