Dillon Corkery has ridden very strongly in the opening stages at Tour du Loir et Cher (2.2) in France. The 23-year-old, racing with French elite team CC Étupes this year, took 6th on the opening stage yesterday.
The race took the riders 147km from Blois to Fontaines-en-Sologne with Corkery setting his stall out early by claiming some bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint.
His team then sent a man into the breakaway, which took pressure of Corkery, and when that breakaway was brought back the Irish rider stepped up for the final sprint, placing 6th.
The stage was won by Daniel Babor of the Elkov-Kasper Continental team from Matthew Rice (Lotto-Soudal U23) and Coen Vermeltfoort of Dutch Continental team VolkerWessels CT.
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On today's stage 2 - some 197.5km from Le Controis-en-Sologne to Vallières-les-Grandes - a six-man breakaway finished more than 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. The stage was won by Andreas Stokbro (Team Coop) from Aaron Gate (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) and Rick Ottema (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel).
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Corkery was part of the bunch sprinting for 7th and misjudged his effort at the end when he led out the gallop too early and was passed by a group of riders just before the line. He had to be content with 24th place.
The time gained by the six breakaway men today saw them shoot up the general classification, with Corkery pushed down from 6th overall to 15th as a result.
However, tomorrow's stage 3 looks like an epic day out and one that can suit the in-form Corkery. It is 213km from Cloyes-Les-Trois-Rivières to Vendôme and features plenty of gravel sections, which should be to the Irish rider's liking.
